Which to use
“hes” is a determiner and “hic” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,568
- “hes” frequency rank
- #49,392
- “hic” frequency rank
- 56960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hes | hic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him. | An approximation to the sound of a hiccup, used e.g. to indicate drunkenness. |
Where the eye mixes hes and hic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hes is /hiːz/ while hic is /hɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56960, 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/. hic is at rank #49,392, tagged as anintj, pronounced /hɪk/.
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 56960, this pair ranks #122,548 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hes vs hic
Shared letters: h. Private to "hes": es. Private to "hic": ci.
"hes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hic" · 3 letters · shape CVC