copyvshe'sWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: copy is a noun, he's is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“copy” is a noun and “he's” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,499
“copy” frequency rank
#29,620
“he's” frequency rank
55119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature copy he's
Definition Nachbildung eines Bildes oder eines Textes; Kopie he is: er ist

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set copy and he's apart are highlighted. They share no common letter run, the confusion here is by sound, not by sight.

4 ch
copy
4 ch
he's

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

copy and he's form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

copy is recorded at frequency rank #25,499, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. he's is at rank #29,620, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced […].

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 55119, this pair ranks #992,034 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

copy#25,499
he's#29,620

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "copy" and "he's" be used interchangeably?
No, "copy" and "he's" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering copy vs he's

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “copy”; for an abbrev, it's “he's”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “copy” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list