hervshisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: her is a adjective, his is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“her” is an adjective and “his” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,857
“her” frequency rank
#8,209
“his” frequency rank
18066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature her his
Definition adjetivo possessivo da terceira pessoa feminina do singular, dela pronome do caso possessivo da terceira pessoa masculina do singular, dele.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set her and his apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
her
3 ch
his

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

her and his form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

her is recorded at frequency rank #9,857, classified as anadj. his is at rank #8,209, tagged as apron.

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 18066, this pair ranks #53,010 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

her#9,857
his#8,209

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "her" and "his" be used interchangeably?
No, "her" and "his" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering her vs his

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “her”; for a pronoun, it's “his”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “her” 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