Which to use
“hibou” is a noun and “Hivon” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,887
- “hibou” frequency rank
- #45,098
- “Hivon” frequency rank
- 67985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hibou | Hivon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom ambigu désignant de façon générale tout rapace nocturne de l'ordre des strigiformes, caractérisé par de grands yeux frontaux entourés par un cercle de plumes, et qui porte notamment des aigrettes (faisceaux de plumes) sur la tête, caractéristique le distinguant principalement des chouettes, qui est également un substantif ambigu désignant plusieurs genres de rapaces nocturnes peu apparentés les uns aux autres. | Nom de famille. |
Where the eye mixes hibou and Hivon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hibou (CVCVV) and Hivon (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses hibou with Hivon
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hibou is ^((h aspiré))\i.bu\ while Hivon is \i.vɔ̃\. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hibou is recorded at frequency rank #22,887, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\i.bu\. Hivon is at rank #45,098, tagged as aname, pronounced \i.vɔ̃\.
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 67985, this pair ranks #61,096 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hibou vs Hivon
Shared letters: hio. Private to "hibou": bu. Private to "Hivon": nv.
"hibou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "Hivon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hibou" and "Hivon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "hibou" or "Hivon" show up more?
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 "hibou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hivon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,096 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hibou" and "Hivon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hayon vs Hivon". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #61,096 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.