English homophones
hmm/hmmm
"hmm" (#5,972 written frequency) beats "hmmm" (#12,787) in this 2-word /hm̩/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /hm̩/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "hmm" leads at #5,972, with "hmmm" trailing at #12,787.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "hmm" then splits - "hmm" (3 letters) vs "hmmm" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across hmm, hmmm: hm. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
hmm
3 letters · 0 vowels · shape CCC
Inventory hm · no private letters vs siblings
hmmm
4 letters · 0 vowels · shape CCCC
Inventory hm · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "hmm" when you mean: Indicates thinking or pondering.
- Write "hmmm" when you mean: Elongated form of hmm.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- hmmm ← hhmmm · mhmm
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (hmm, hmmm). Here's where to go from here.
- "hmm" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #5,972 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: Heywood · Haywood. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "hmm, hmmm" 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.