Which to use
“his” is a determiner and “hm” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,230
- “his” frequency rank
- #16,903
- “hm” frequency rank
- 28133
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | his | hm |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Son, sa ou ses (à lui). | Variante de hem et hmm. |
Where the eye mixes his and hm
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses his with hm
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: his is \hɪz\ while hm is \m\. 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 (determiner vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
his is recorded at frequency rank #11,230, classified as adet, pronounced \hɪz\. hm is at rank #16,903, tagged as anintj, pronounced \m\.
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 28133, this pair ranks #324,713 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of his vs hm
Shared letters: h. Private to "his": is. Private to "hm": m.
"his" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hm" · 2 letters · shape CC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "his" for "hm" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "his" or "hm" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "his" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,713 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "his" and "hm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hm". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #324,713 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.