Which to use
“hide” and “hit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,373
- “hide” frequency rank
- #14,695
- “hit” frequency rank
- 62068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hide | hit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cuir, peau (des animaux vivants). | Tube. |
Where the eye mixes hide and hit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hide with hit
A purely visual mix-up. hide (\haɪd\) and hit (^((h aspiré))\it\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hide is recorded at frequency rank #47,373, classified as anoun, pronounced \haɪd\. hit is at rank #14,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\it\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 62068, this pair ranks #88,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hide vs hit
Shared letters: hi. Private to "hide": de. Private to "hit": t.
"hide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hit" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hide ← hdie · hhide · hidde · hied · ihde
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hide" and "hit" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "hide" or "hit" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hide" and "hit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedge vs hide". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #88,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.