Which to use
“how” is an adverb and “how's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #67
- “how” frequency rank
- #7,699
- “how's” frequency rank
- 7766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | how | how's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To what degree or extent. | Contraction of how + is. |
Where the eye mixes how and how's
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: how is /haʊ/ while how's is /haʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “how” sits inside “how's”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
how is recorded at frequency rank #67, classified as anadv, pronounced /haʊ/. how's is at rank #7,699, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /haʊz/.
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 7766, this pair ranks #505,673 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of how vs how's
Shared letters: how. Private to "how": -. Private to "how's": s.
"how" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "how's" · 4 letters · shape CVCC