heyvshopTell them apart

Which to use

“hey” and “hop” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,461
“hey” frequency rank
#3,853
“hop” frequency rank
7314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hey hop
Definition Hé. Appel pour faire sauter un enfant, un animal ^([1]).

Where the eye mixes hey and hop

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
hey
3 ch
hop

Look-alike desk: hey vs hop

A purely visual mix-up. hey (\heɪ\) and hop (^((h aspiré))\ɔp\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hey is recorded at frequency rank #3,461, classified as anintj, pronounced \heɪ\. hop is at rank #3,853, tagged as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔp\.

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 7314, this pair ranks #423,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hey vs hop

Shared letters: h. Private to "hey": ey. Private to "hop": op.

"hey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hop" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hey" and "hop" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\heɪ\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɔp\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hey" vs "hop" - which ranks higher?
"hey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,461 in our French list, against #3,853 for "hop". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "hey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hop" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hey" and "hop" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hop". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #423,541 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list