Which to use
“hes” is a determiner and “hew” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,568
- “hes” frequency rank
- #46,513
- “hew” frequency rank
- 54081
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hes | hew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him. | To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down. |
Where the eye mixes hes and hew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hes vs hew
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hes is /hiːz/ while hew is /hjuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “hes” becomes w in “hew”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hes is recorded at frequency rank #7,568, classified as adet, pronounced /hiːz/. hew is at rank #46,513, tagged as averb, pronounced /hjuː/.
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 54081, this pair ranks #143,872 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hes vs hew
Shared letters: eh. Private to "hes": s. Private to "hew": w.
"hes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hew" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hes" and "hew" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "hes" or "hew" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hes" and "hew" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,872 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hes" and "hew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hew vs HRW". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #143,872 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.