HouvshuiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Hou is a name, hui is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hou” is a name and “hui” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,415
“Hou” frequency rank
#22,115
“hui” frequency rank
47530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hou hui
Definition A surname from Chinese. A Māori social gathering or assembly.

Letter map: Hou vs hui

Shared letters muted; letters that set Hou and hui apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
Hou
3 ch
hui

Grammar separator: Hou vs hui

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Hou is aname and huianoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hou is recorded at frequency rank #25,415, classified as aname. hui is at rank #22,115, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhʉː.iː/.

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 47530, this pair ranks #201,617 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hou vs hui

Shared letters: hu. Private to "Hou": o. Private to "hui": i.

"Hou" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hou" and "hui" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hou" is a name and "hui" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Hou" or "hui" show up more?
"hui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,115 in our English list, against #25,415 for "Hou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Hou" and "hui".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,617 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hou" and "hui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs Hou". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #201,617 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