Which to use
“him” is a pronoun and “how” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,888
- “him” frequency rank
- #10,887
- “how” frequency rank
- 33775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | him | how |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier masculin accusatif. Le, lui. | Comment, de quelle manière. |
Where the eye mixes him and how
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: him vs how
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: him is \hɪm\ while how is \ˈhaʊ\. 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 (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
him is recorded at frequency rank #22,888, classified as apron, pronounced \hɪm\. how is at rank #10,887, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ˈhaʊ\.
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 33775, this pair ranks #288,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of him vs how
Shared letters: h. Private to "him": im. Private to "how": ow.
"him" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "how" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "him" for "how" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "him" or "how" show up more?
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 "him" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "how" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #288,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "him" and "how" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs him". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #288,353 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.