Which to use
“hes” is a determiner and “him” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,568
- “hes” frequency rank
- #82
- “him” frequency rank
- 7650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hes | him |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him. | A masculine pronoun; he as a grammatical object. |
Where the eye mixes hes and him
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 him is /ˈhɪm/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7650, 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/. him is at rank #82, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈhɪm/.
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 7650, this pair ranks #506,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hes vs him
Shared letters: h. Private to "hes": es. Private to "him": im.
"hes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "him" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hes" and "him" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hes" or "him"?
What to do next
You've compared "hes" and "him". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "hes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "him" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hes" and "him" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hes vs HRW". Nearby pair
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.