Which to use
“hiss” and “husks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,171
- “hiss” frequency rank
- #46,530
- “husks” frequency rank
- 73701
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hiss | husks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sibilant sound, such as that made by a snake or escaping steam; an unvoiced fricative. | plural of husk |
Where the eye mixes hiss and husks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hiss runs 4 letters (CVCC) against husks's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hiss and husks
A purely visual mix-up. hiss (/hɪs/) and husks (/hʌsks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hiss is recorded at frequency rank #27,171, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɪs/. husks is at rank #46,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hʌsks/.
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 73701, this pair ranks #38,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hiss vs husks
Shared letters: hs. Private to "hiss": i. Private to "husks": ku.
"hiss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "husks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hiss" and "husks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "hiss" vs "husks" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hiss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "husks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,720 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hiss" and "husks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "humps vs husks". 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 #38,720 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.