Which to use
“hearse” is a noun and “hers” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,023
- “hearse” frequency rank
- #7,460
- “hers” frequency rank
- 44483
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hearse | hers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies. | That or those belonging to her; the possessive case of she, used without a following noun. |
Where the eye mixes hearse and hers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hearse vs hers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hearse is /hɜːs/ while hers is /ˈhɜːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hearse is recorded at frequency rank #37,023, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɜːs/. hers is at rank #7,460, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈhɜːz/.
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 44483, this pair ranks #230,108 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hearse vs hers
Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "hearse": a. Private to "hers": -.
"hearse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "hers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hearse" and "hers" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hearse" or "hers"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hearse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,108 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hearse" and "hers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hearse vs Hoare". 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 #230,108 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.