Which to use
“hire” is a noun and “hor” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,628
- “hire” frequency rank
- #45,433
- “hor” frequency rank
- 49061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hire | hor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who has been hired, especially in a cohort. | her |
Where the eye mixes hire and hor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hire vs hor
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hire is /ˈhaɪ(.)ə/ while hor is /høː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hire is recorded at frequency rank #3,628, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪ(.)ə/. hor is at rank #45,433, tagged as apron, pronounced /høː/.
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 49061, this pair ranks #187,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hire vs hor
Shared letters: hr. Private to "hire": ei. Private to "hor": o.
"hire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hor" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hire ← hhire · hier · hirre · hrie · ihre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hire" for "hor" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hire" or "hor" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #187,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hire" and "hor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs hor". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #187,222 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.