HisvsHofWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“His” and “Hof” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,079
“His” frequency rank
#1,773
“Hof” frequency rank
9852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature His Hof
Definition Ton mit 264 Hz und alle Töne im Oktavabstand dazu, um einen Halbton erhöhtes H umgrenzter Platz, Wirtschafts- und Verkehrsfläche auf einem Grundstück, in der Regel von Gebäuden umschlossen oder hinter, vor oder zwischen Gebäuden gelegen

Where the eye mixes His and Hof

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
His
3 ch
Hof

Visual trap between His and Hof

A purely visual mix-up. His ([hɪs]) and Hof ([hoːf]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

His is recorded at frequency rank #8,079, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɪs]. Hof is at rank #1,773, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hoːf].

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 9852, this pair ranks #1,977,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of His vs Hof

Shared letters: h. Private to "His": is. Private to "Hof": fo.

"His" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Hof" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "His" for "Hof" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([hɪs] versus [hoːf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "His" vs "Hof" - which ranks higher?
"Hof" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,773 in our German list, against #8,079 for "His". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "His" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hof" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,977,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "His" and "Hof" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "His vs höh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,977,990 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