• Ẓannī al-thubūt (ظنی الثبوت): in this basic division, mashhūr, ʿazīz and gharīb do not have the certainty of mutawātir transmission; this degree of knowledge is called ʿilm al-ẓann.
• Taʿāruḍ (تعارض): the meanings of two reports appear to conflict.
• Rājiḥ (راجح): the report preferred in a comparison; in the stated conflict comparison, mashhūr is preferred over ʿazīz and gharīb.
Probable does not necessarily mean rejected, and a narrator-count label is not a complete acceptance or rejection decision.