he's vs hey, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“he's” is a contraction and “hey” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,629
“he's” frequency rank: #5,007
“hey” frequency rank: 48636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	he's	hey
Definition	Contracción de he y is: "él es" o "él está".	Eh, oye, se emplea parar llamar la atención, o para expresar placer, o sorpresa, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set he's and hey apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

he's

3 ch

hey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: he's is /hiːz/ while hey is /heɪ/. 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 (contraction vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

he's is recorded at frequency rank #43,629, classified as acontraction, pronounced /hiːz/. hey is at rank #5,007, tagged as anintj, pronounced /heɪ/.

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 48636, this pair ranks #113,353 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of he's vs hey

Shared letters: eh. Private to "he's": s. Private to "hey": y.

"he's" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hey" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

he's#43,629

hey#5,007

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "he's" and "hey" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "he's" is a contraction and "hey" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "he's" or "hey"?

"hey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,007 in our Spanish list, against #43,629 for "he's". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering he's vs hey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “he's”; for an intj, it's “hey”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “he's” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable