hewvshhhWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hew is a verb, hhh is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hew” is a verb and “hhh” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,513
“hew” frequency rank
#46,514
“hhh” frequency rank
93027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hew hhh
Definition To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down. A sigh; indicates distress, discomfort, boredom or confusion.

Letter map: hew vs hhh

Shared letters muted; letters that set hew and hhh apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. hew (CVC) and hhh (CCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
hew
3 ch
hhh

Role in the sentence - hew and hhh

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hew is averb and hhhanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hew is recorded at frequency rank #46,513, classified as averb, pronounced /hjuː/. hhh is at rank #46,514, tagged as anintj.

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 93027, this pair ranks #2,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hew vs hhh

Shared letters: h. Private to "hew": ew. Private to "hhh": -.

"hew" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hhh" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hew" and "hhh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hew" is a verb and "hhh" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "hew" or "hhh" show up more?
"hew" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,513 in our English list, against #46,514 for "hhh". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "hew" vs "hhh" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hhh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hew" and "hhh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hhh vs HRW". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,184 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list