Which to use
“hams” is a noun and “hem” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,094
- “hams” frequency rank
- #21,236
- “hem” frequency rank
- 55330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hams | hem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ham | Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound. |
Letter map: hams vs hem
Shared letters muted; letters that set hams and hem apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for hams / hem
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hams is anoun and hemanintj. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hams is recorded at frequency rank #34,094, classified as anoun. hem is at rank #21,236, tagged as anintj, pronounced /hɛm/.
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 55330, this pair ranks #134,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hams vs hem
Shared letters: hm. Private to "hams": as. Private to "hem": e.
"hams" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hem" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hams ← ahms · hamms · hamss · hasm · hhams
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hams" for "hem" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hams" or "hem" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "hams" and "hem". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "hams" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hams" and "hem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hammy vs hams". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #134,443 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.