Which to use
“his” is a determiner and “ho” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34
- “his” frequency rank
- #4,951
- “ho” frequency rank
- 4985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | his | ho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Belonging to him. | Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts. |
Where the eye mixes his and ho
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses his with ho
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: his is /ɪ̈z/ while ho is /həʊ/. 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 (determiner vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
his is recorded at frequency rank #34, classified as adet, pronounced /ɪ̈z/. ho is at rank #4,951, tagged as anintj, pronounced /həʊ/.
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 4985, this pair ranks #516,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of his vs ho
Shared letters: h. Private to "his": is. Private to "ho": o.
"his" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ho" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "his" for "ho" ever safe?
Which is more common, "his" or "ho"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "his" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "his" and "ho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ho vs hoke". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #516,999 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.