Which to use
“him” and “hy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,888
- “him” frequency rank
- #47,944
- “hy” frequency rank
- 70832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | him | hy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier masculin accusatif. Le, lui. | Pronom personnel sujet masculin de la troisième personne du singulier : il. |
Where the eye mixes him and hy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses him with hy
A purely visual mix-up. him (\hɪm\) and hy (\ɦəi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70832, 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\. 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 70832, this pair ranks #49,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of him vs hy
Shared letters: h. Private to "him": im. Private to "hy": y.
"him" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hy" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "him" and "hy" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "him" vs "hy" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "hy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "him" and "hy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hy". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #49,820 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.