hackvshanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“hack” and “han” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,578
“hack” frequency rank
#7,925
“han” frequency rank
14503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hack han
Definition To chop or cut down in a rough manner. plural simple present of have

Where the eye mixes hack and han

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hack
3 ch
han

Look-alike desk: hack vs han

A purely visual mix-up. hack (/hæk/) and han (/hæn/) 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 14503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hack is recorded at frequency rank #6,578, classified as averb, pronounced /hæk/. han is at rank #7,925, tagged as averb, pronounced /hæn/.

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 14503, this pair ranks #469,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hack vs han

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hack": ck. Private to "han": n.

"hack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "han" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hackahck · hacck · hackk · hakc · hcak · hhack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hack" for "han" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/hæk/ versus /hæn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hack" vs "han" - which ranks higher?
"hack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,578 in our English list, against #7,925 for "han". 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 "hack" and "han" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "han" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #469,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hack" and "han" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "han vs HRW". 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 #469,644 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list