Which to use
“him” is a pronoun and “hoy” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,444
- “him” frequency rank
- #149
- “hoy” frequency rank
- 23593
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | him | hoy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Él. | En el día en curso. |
Where the eye mixes him and hoy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses him with hoy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: him is /ˈhɪm/ while hoy is [ˈoj]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
him is recorded at frequency rank #23,444, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈhɪm/. hoy is at rank #149, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈoj].
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 23593, this pair ranks #245,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of him vs hoy
Shared letters: h. Private to "him": im. Private to "hoy": oy.
"him" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hoy" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "him" and "hoy" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "him" vs "hoy" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "him" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hoy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "him" and "hoy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "him vs hut". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #245,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.