humanvshummmWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: human is a adjective, hummm is an onomatopoeia, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“human” is an adjective and “hummm” is an onomatopoeia - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,784
“human” frequency rank
#49,134
“hummm” frequency rank
60918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature human hummm
Definition Humain. Onomatopée issue de la délectation de boire ou de manger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set human and hummm apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
human
5 ch
hummm

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: human is anadjective and hummmanonomatopoeia. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60918, 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\. 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 60918, this pair ranks #95,091 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of human vs hummm

Shared letters: hmu. Private to "human": an. Private to "hummm": -.

"human" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hummm" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • humanhhuman · hmuan · huamn · humann · humman · humna · uhman
  • hummmhhummm · hmumm · humm · uhmmm

Frequency comparison

human#11,784
hummm#49,134

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "human" and "hummm" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "human" is an adjective and "hummm" an onomatopoeia, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "human" or "hummm"?
"human" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,784 in our French list, against #49,134 for "hummm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering human vs hummm

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “human”; for an onomatopoeia, it's “hummm”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “human” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list