histoirevshistoryWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“histoire” and “history” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,401
“histoire” frequency rank
#9,507
“history” frequency rank
40908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature histoire history
Definition história história, ciência ou disciplina que estuda o homem e sua ação no tempo e no espaço, concomitante à análise de processos e eventos passados:

Where the eye mixes histoire and history

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
histoire
7 ch
history

Why the eye confuses histoire with history

A purely visual mix-up. histoire (\is.twaʁ\) and history (/ˈhɪs.tə.ɹi/, /ˈhɪs.tɹi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

histoire is recorded at frequency rank #31,401, classified as anoun, pronounced \is.twaʁ\. history is at rank #9,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪs.tə.ɹi/, /ˈhɪs.tɹi/.

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 40908, this pair ranks #25,110 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of histoire vs history

Shared letters: hiorst. Private to "histoire": e. Private to "history": y.

"histoire" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "history" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • histoirehhistoire · hisotire · hisstoire · histiore · histoier · histoirre · historie · histtoire
  • historyhhistory · hisotry · hisstory · historry · historyy · histoyr · histroy · histtory

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "histoire" and "history" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\is.twaʁ\ versus /ˈhɪs.tə.ɹi/, /ˈhɪs.tɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "histoire" vs "history" - which ranks higher?
"history" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,507 in our Portuguese list, against #31,401 for "histoire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "histoire" and "history" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "histoire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "history" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,110 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "histoire" and "history" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "história vs history". 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 #25,110 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list