Which to use
“human” is an adjective and “hume” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,784
- “human” frequency rank
- #30,206
- “hume” frequency rank
- 41990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | human | hume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Humain. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de humer. |
Where the eye mixes human and hume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. human runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against hume's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: human vs hume
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: human is \huˈmaːn\ while hume is ^((h aspiré))\ym\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
human is recorded at frequency rank #11,784, classified as anadj, pronounced \huˈmaːn\. hume is at rank #30,206, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ym\.
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 41990, this pair ranks #229,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of human vs hume
Shared letters: hmu. Private to "human": an. Private to "hume": e.
"human" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "human" and "hume" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "human" or "hume"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "human" and "hume" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "human" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "human" and "hume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hume 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 #229,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.