hidravshienaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hidra” and “hiena” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,310
“hidra” frequency rank
#30,994
“hiena” frequency rank
65304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hidra hiena
Definition criatura serpentina com múltiplas cabeças que se regeneram ao serem cortadas, célebre na mitologia grega mamífero, carnívoro, feroz e devorador de carne putrefacta

Letter map: hidra vs hiena

Shared letters muted; letters that set hidra and hiena apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. hidra (CVCCV) and hiena (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
hidra
5 ch
hiena

Corpus notes: hidra and hiena

hidra and hiena are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hidra is recorded at frequency rank #34,310, classified as anoun. hiena is at rank #30,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈje.nɐ/.

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 65304, this pair ranks #5,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hidra vs hiena

Shared letters: ahi. Private to "hidra": dr. Private to "hiena": en.

"hidra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hiena" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hidra ← hdira · hhidra · hidar · hiddra · hidrra · hirda · ihdra
  • hiena ← heina · hhiena · hiean · hienna · hinea · ihena

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hidra" for "hiena" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "hidra" vs "hiena" - which ranks higher?
"hiena" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,994 in our Portuguese list, against #34,310 for "hidra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "hidra" and "hiena". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hidra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hiena" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hidra" and "hiena" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hide vs hidra". 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 #5,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list