Which to use
“hum” is an intj and “hummm” is an onomatopoeia - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,875
- “hum” frequency rank
- #49,134
- “hummm” frequency rank
- 55009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hum | hummm |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Interjection qui marque doute, réticence, impatience. | Onomatopée issue de la délectation de boire ou de manger. |
Letter map: hum vs hummm
Shared letters muted; letters that set hum and hummm apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. hum runs 3 letters (CVC) against hummm's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - hum and hummm
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hum is anintj and hummmanonomatopoeia. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “hum” sits inside “hummm”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hum is recorded at frequency rank #5,875, classified as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\œm\. hummm is at rank #49,134, tagged as anonomatopoeia.
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 55009, this pair ranks #130,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hum vs hummm
Shared letters: hmu. Private to "hum": -. Private to "hummm": -.
"hum" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hummm" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hummm ← hhummm · hmumm · humm · uhmmm
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hum" for "hummm" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hum" or "hummm"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "hum" and "hummm".
- Full dictionary entry for "hum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hummm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hum" and "hummm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hamm vs hummm". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #130,239 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.