JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div class="cell u5 u1">u1</div>
<div class="cell u10 u5">u10</div>
<div class="cell u13 u5">u13</div>
<div class="cell u1602 u13">u16</div>

CSS

.bg {
    background-color: green;
}

JavaScript

$('.cell').hover(function() {
    var classes = $(this).attr('class').split(/\s+/);
    console.log(classes);
    classes = classes.splice(classes.indexOf('cell'), 1);
    console.log(classes);
    console.log('.'+classes.join(',.'));
    $('[class="'+classes.join(',')+'"]').addClass('bg');
}, function() {
    $('[class="'+$(this).attr('class')+'"]').removeClass('bg');
});