his
/ɪ̈z/
"his" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“his” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #34) as a determiner. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #34
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Belonging to him.
Corpus desk
Index EN-his · his · English
his · rank #34 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #34
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH so
Nearest frequency peer: so (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “his”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- your
your
99,970 corpus weight
- all
all
99,969 corpus weight
- so
so
99,968 corpus weight
- his
his
99,967 corpus weight
- they
they
99,966 corpus weight
- ME
ME
99,965 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “his” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | his |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Determiner |
| IPA | /ɪ̈z/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #34 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “his” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for his is neighbouring look-alikes ("ho", "HR", …), not just typos; it is adeterminer pronounced /ɪ̈z/. Frequency #34 among 2,646 “H” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
his doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ho", "HR", "HP", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English his, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“hi… The correct English form is his, spelled H-I-S.
Definition
- 1Belonging to him.
- 2Belonging to a person of unspecified gender.
- 3Its; belonging to it. (Now only when implying personification.)
- 4Used as a genitive marker in place of ’s after a noun, especially a masculine noun ending in -s, to express the possessive case.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how his appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
With that he put his ſpurres vnto his ſteed, With ſpeare in reſt, and toward him did fare, Like ſhaft out of a bow preuenting ſpeed.
No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
Etymology
From Middle English his, from Old English his (“his; its”), from Proto-Germanic *hes (“of this”), genitive of Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this”). Cognate with Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic hans (“his”). More at he; see also its.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "his", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "his". Here's where to go from here.
- "his" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "ho". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #34 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.