English homophones
he's/hes
2 "he's, hes" spellings share pronunciation /ˈhiːz/; meaning alone separates them. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Meaning separates the spellings
he's, hes are held together only by pronunciation /ˈhiːz/. With no grammar or frequency gap large enough to tip the choice, read each definition before you commit a spelling.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "he" then splits - "he's" (4 letters) vs "hes" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across he's, hes: ehs. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
he's
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ehs · no private letters vs siblings
hes
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ehs · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "he's" when you mean: Contraction of he + is.
- Write "hes" when you mean: Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (he's, hes). Here's where to go from here.
- "hes" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #7,568 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: highland · Hyland. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "he's, hes" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.