Multiquarks can have two-hadron components and hidden-color components in their wave functions. The presence of two-hadron components in multiquarks introduces a potential source of confusion, particularly with respect to their resemblance to hadronic molecules. On the other hand, hidden-color components are essential for distinguishing between multiquarks and hadronic molecules. In this work, we study the hidden-color components in the wave functions of the tetraquark mixing model, a model that has been proposed as a suitable framework for describing the properties of two nonets in the $$J^{P}=0^{+}$$
J
P
=
0
+
channel: the light nonet [$$a_{0} (980)$$
a
0
(
980
)
, $$K_{0}^{*} (700)$$
K
0
∗
(
700
)
, $$f_{0} (500)$$
f
0
(
500
)
, $$f_{0} (980)$$
f
0
(
980
)
] and the heavy nonet [$$a_{0} (1450)$$
a
0
(
1450
)
, $$K_{0}^* (1430)$$
K
0
∗
(
1430
)
, $$f_{0} (1370)$$
f
0
(
1370
)
, $$f_{0} (1500)$$
f
0
(
1500
)
]. Our analysis reveals a substantial presence of hidden-color components within the tetraquark wave functions. To elucidate the impact of hidden-color components on physical quantities, we conduct computations of the hyperfine masses, $$\langle V_{CS}\rangle $$
⟨
V
CS
⟩
, for the two nonets, considering scenarios involving only the two-meson components and those incorporating the hidden-color components. We demonstrate that the hidden-color components constitute an important part of the hyperfine masses, such that the mass difference formula, $$\Delta M\approx \Delta \langle V_{CS}\rangle $$
Δ
M
≈
Δ
⟨
V
CS
⟩
, which has been successful for the two nonets, cannot be achieved without the hidden-color contributions. This can provide another evidence supporting the tetraquark nature of the two nonets.