heyvshhhWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“hey” and “hhh” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#787
“hey” frequency rank
#46,514
“hhh” frequency rank
47301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hey hhh
Definition An exclamation to get attention. A sigh; indicates distress, discomfort, boredom or confusion.

Letter map: hey vs hhh

Shared letters muted; letters that set hey and hhh apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
hey
3 ch
hhh

Corpus notes: hey and hhh

hey and hhh are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hey is recorded at frequency rank #787, classified as anintj, pronounced /heɪ/. 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 47301, this pair ranks #203,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hey vs hhh

Shared letters: h. Private to "hey": ey. Private to "hhh": -.

"hey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hhh" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hey" and "hhh" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "hey" or "hhh" show up more?
"hey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #787 in our English list, against #46,514 for "hhh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "hey" and "hhh".

  • Full dictionary entry for "hey" 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 #203,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hey" and "hhh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hhh vs HRW". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #203,704 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