Which to use
“ham” is an intj and “hy” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,150
- “ham” frequency rank
- #47,944
- “hy” frequency rank
- 65094
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ham | hy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Onomatopée issue de la délectation de boire ou de manger. | Pronom personnel sujet masculin de la troisième personne du singulier : il. |
Where the eye mixes ham and hy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ham with hy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ham is \am\ while hy is \ɦəi\. 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 (intj vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ham is recorded at frequency rank #17,150, classified as anintj, pronounced \am\. hy is at rank #47,944, tagged as apron, pronounced \ɦəi\.
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 65094, this pair ranks #73,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ham vs hy
Shared letters: h. Private to "ham": am. Private to "hy": y.
"ham" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hy" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ham" for "hy" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ham" or "hy"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ham" and "hy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ham" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ham" and "hy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hy". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #73,865 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.