hesvshodWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hes is a determiner, hod is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hes” is a determiner and “hod” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,568
“hes” frequency rank
#49,395
“hod” frequency rank
56963
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hes hod
Definition Alternative form of his when pronounced as he's; belonging to him. To bob up and down on horseback, as an inexperienced rider may do; to jog.

Where the eye mixes hes and hod

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
hes
3 ch
hod

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hes is /hiːz/ while hod is /hɒd/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56963, 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/. hod is at rank #49,395, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɒd/.

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 56963, this pair ranks #122,525 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hes vs hod

Shared letters: h. Private to "hes": es. Private to "hod": do.

"hes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hod" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hes" and "hod" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hes" is a determiner and "hod" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hes" or "hod"?
"hes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,568 in our English list, against #49,395 for "hod". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list