Which to use
“hew” is a verb and “his” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,513
- “hew” frequency rank
- #34
- “his” frequency rank
- 46547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hew | his |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down. | Belonging to him. |
Where the eye mixes hew and his
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between hew and his
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hew is /hjuː/ while his is /ɪ̈z/. 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 (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46547, 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/. his is at rank #34, tagged as adet, pronounced /ɪ̈z/.
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 46547, this pair ranks #210,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hew vs his
Shared letters: h. Private to "hew": ew. Private to "his": is.
"hew" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "his" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hew" and "his" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "hew" or "his" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "his" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hew" and "his" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hew vs HRW". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #210,736 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.