hejvshumTell them apart

Quick tell: hej is a intj, hum is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hej” is an intj and “hum” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,213
“hej” frequency rank
#47,488
“hum” frequency rank
95701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hej hum
Definition informelle Grußformel männliches Personalpronomen der dritten Person Singular im Objektiv(≘ Dativ und Akkusativ): ihm, ihn

Letter map: hej vs hum

Shared letters muted; letters that set hej and hum apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. hej and hum follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
hej
3 ch
hum

Grammar separator: hej vs hum

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hej is anintj and humapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hej is recorded at frequency rank #48,213, classified as anintj, pronounced [haɪ]. hum is at rank #47,488, tagged as apron, 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 95701, this pair ranks #10,457 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hej vs hum

Shared letters: h. Private to "hej": ej. Private to "hum": mu.

"hej" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hej" and "hum" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hej" is an intj and "hum" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hej" vs "hum" - which ranks higher?
"hum" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #47,488 in our German list, against #48,213 for "hej". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "hej" vs "hum" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hej" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,457 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hej" and "hum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hum vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,457 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list