Which to use
“hier” is an adverb and “him” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #507
- “hier” frequency rank
- #22,888
- “him” frequency rank
- 23395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hier | him |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le jour qui précède immédiatement celui où l’on est. Il y a un jour. | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier masculin accusatif. Le, lui. |
Where the eye mixes hier and him
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hier vs him
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hier is \jɛʁ\ while him is \hɪm\. 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 23395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hier is recorded at frequency rank #507, classified as anadv, pronounced \jɛʁ\. him is at rank #22,888, tagged as apron, pronounced \hɪm\.
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 23395, this pair ranks #352,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hier vs him
Shared letters: hi. Private to "hier": er. Private to "him": m.
"hier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "him" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hier ← heir · hhier · hierr · hire · iher
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hier" for "him" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hier" or "him"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "him" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hier" and "him" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs him". 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 #352,749 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.