Which to use
“herself” and “himself” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,723
- “herself” frequency rank
- #561
- “himself” frequency rank
- 2284
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | herself | himself |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Her; the female object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject. | Him; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set herself and himself apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. herself (/hɜːˈsɛlf/) and himself (/hɪmˈsɛlf/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
herself is recorded at frequency rank #1,723, classified as apron, pronounced /hɜːˈsɛlf/. himself is at rank #561, tagged as apron, pronounced /hɪmˈsɛlf/.
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 2284, this pair ranks #525,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of herself vs himself
Shared letters: efhls. Private to "herself": r. Private to "himself": im.
"herself" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "himself" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC