Which to use
“hid” is a verb and “his” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,760
- “hid” frequency rank
- #34
- “his” frequency rank
- 9794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hid | his |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of hide | Belonging to him. |
Where the eye mixes hid and his
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hid and his
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hid is /hɪd/ while his is /ɪ̈z/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “hid” becomes s in “his”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hid is recorded at frequency rank #9,760, classified as averb, pronounced /hɪd/. 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 9794, this pair ranks #495,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hid vs his
Shared letters: hi. Private to "hid": d. Private to "his": s.
"hid" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "his" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hid" and "his" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hid" or "his"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hid" 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 #495,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hid" and "his" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hid vs HIIT". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #495,553 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.