Which to use
“her” is an adverb and “hy” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,053
- “her” frequency rank
- #47,944
- “hy” frequency rank
- 61997
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | her | hy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Indique un mouvement en direction du locuteur | Pronom personnel sujet masculin de la troisième personne du singulier : il. |
Where the eye mixes her and hy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses her with hy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: her is \heːɐ̯\ 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 (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
her is recorded at frequency rank #14,053, classified as anadv, pronounced \heːɐ̯\. 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 61997, this pair ranks #89,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of her vs hy
Shared letters: h. Private to "her": er. Private to "hy": y.
"her" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hy" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "her" and "hy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "her" or "hy"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "her" 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 #89,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "her" and "hy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hy". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #89,383 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.