howvshuiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“how” and “hui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,887
“how” frequency rank
#11,783
“hui” frequency rank
22670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature how hui
Definition Comment, de quelle manière. Indication du jour du moment d’énonciation.

Where the eye mixes how and hui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
how
3 ch
hui

Visual trap between how and hui

A purely visual mix-up. how (\ˈhaʊ\) and hui (\ɥi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

how is recorded at frequency rank #10,887, classified as anadv, pronounced \ˈhaʊ\. 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 22670, this pair ranks #356,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of how vs hui

Shared letters: h. Private to "how": ow. Private to "hui": iu.

"how" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "how" and "hui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈhaʊ\ versus \ɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "how" or "hui"?
"how" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,887 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

Eye-level mix-up between "how" and "hui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "how" 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 #356,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "how" and "hui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #356,741 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