huivshyTell them apart

Quick tell: hui is a adverb, hy is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#11,783
“hui” frequency rank
#47,944
“hy” frequency rank
59727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hui hy
Definition Indication du jour du moment d’énonciation. Pronom personnel sujet masculin de la troisième personne du singulier : il.

Where the eye mixes hui and hy

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

3 ch
hui
2 ch
hy

Look-alike desk: hui vs hy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hui is \ɥi\ while hy is \ɦəi\. 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 (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hui is recorded at frequency rank #11,783, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɥi\. 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 59727, this pair ranks #101,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hui vs hy

Shared letters: h. Private to "hui": iu. Private to "hy": y.

"hui" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hy" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hui" and "hy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hui" is an adverb and "hy" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hui" vs "hy" - which ranks higher?
"hui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,783 in our French list, against #47,944 for "hy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "hui" 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 #101,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hui" and "hy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #101,502 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