Which to use
“Hearst” is a name and “hers” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,812
- “Hearst” frequency rank
- #7,460
- “hers” frequency rank
- 34272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hearst | hers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname. | That or those belonging to her; the possessive case of she, used without a following noun. |
Where the eye mixes Hearst and hers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Hearst vs hers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hearst is /hɝst/ 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 (name vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Hearst is recorded at frequency rank #26,812, classified as aname, pronounced /hɝst/. 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 34272, this pair ranks #322,227 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Hearst vs hers
Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "Hearst": at. Private to "hers": -.
"Hearst" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "hers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Hearst" for "hers" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Hearst" vs "hers" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Hearst" and "hers" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Hearst" 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 #322,227 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Hearst" and "hers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hearst vs Herat". 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 #322,227 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.