Which to use
“him” is a pronoun and “how” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,118
- “him” frequency rank
- #4,899
- “how” frequency rank
- 20017
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | him | how |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personalpronomen 3. Person Maskulinum Singular Objektform: ihm, ihn | nach der Methode fragend |
Where the eye mixes him and how
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: him vs how
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: him is [hɪm] while how is [haʊ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
him is recorded at frequency rank #15,118, classified as apron, pronounced [hɪm]. how is at rank #4,899, tagged as anadv, pronounced [haʊ].
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 20017, this pair ranks #1,902,195 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of him vs how
Shared letters: h. Private to "him": im. Private to "how": ow.
"him" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "how" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "him" for "how" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "him" or "how" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "him" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "how" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,902,195 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "him" and "how" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "him vs höh". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,902,195 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.