Had or have?
had means “Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior…”, and have means “To possess, own”. had is also the simple past and past participle of have, which is where the two meet. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) have is about 2.4 times as common as had.
What is the difference between had and have?
| had | have | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, prefix | verb, noun |
| Meaning | simple past and past participle of have Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past | To possess, own To hold, as something at someone's disposal A wealthy or privileged person One who has some (contextually specified) thing |
| Example | This morning I had an egg for breakfast | I have a house and a car |
| Forms | none | has, having, had |
| Pronunciation | /hæd/ /həd/ /əd/ | /ˈhæv/ /ˈhav/ /ˈhɛv/ |
| In writing | 2,138 times per million words | 5,129 times per million words |
Sources: had and have in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of had and have
had
- 1
Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past
I felt sure that I had seen him before
- 2
Alternative form of hado- (“ocean depths”)
have
- 1
To possess, own
I have a house and a car
- 2
A wealthy or privileged person
- 3
AustraliainformalA fraud or deception; something misleading
They advertise it as a great deal, but I think it's a bit of a have
- 4
A hawthorn
- 5
To hold, as something at someone's disposal
Look what I have here–a frog I found on the street!
- 6
One who has some (contextually specified) thing
- 7
To include as a part, ingredient, or feature
The stove has a handle. The shirt has sleeves
- 8
Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject
I have two sisters
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, had or have?
had appears 2,138 times per million words; have 5,129 times per million words.
had 2,138 times per million wordshave 5,129 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search had vs have?
“had vs have” is searched about 1,900 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“have vs had”, “had or have”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.