hmmvshuiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hmm is a intj, hui is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hmm” is an intj and “hui” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,171
“hmm” frequency rank
#11,783
“hui” frequency rank
21954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hmm hui
Definition Variante de hum, hm, exprime l’hésitation. Indication du jour du moment d’énonciation.

Letter map: hmm vs hui

Shared letters muted; letters that set hmm and hui apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
hmm
3 ch
hui

Role in the sentence - hmm and hui

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hmm is anintj and huianadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hmm is recorded at frequency rank #10,171, classified as anintj. hui is at rank #11,783, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɥi\.

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 21954, this pair ranks #360,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hmm vs hui

Shared letters: h. Private to "hmm": m. Private to "hui": iu.

"hmm" · 3 letters · shape CCC  ·  "hui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hmm" for "hui" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hmm" is an intj and "hui" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "hmm" or "hui" show up more?
"hmm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,171 in our French list, against #11,783 for "hui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "hmm" and "hui". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hmm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #360,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hmm" and "hui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #360,544 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list