Which to use
“hap” and “hypo” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,486
- “hap” frequency rank
- #42,192
- “hypo” frequency rank
- 69678
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hap | hypo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person's lot (good or bad), luck, fortune, fate. | Melancholy; a fit of hypochondria; a morbid depression. |
Where the eye mixes hap and hypo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hap and hypo
A purely visual mix-up. hap (/hæp/) and hypo (/ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/) 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 69678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hap is recorded at frequency rank #27,486, classified as anoun, pronounced /hæp/. hypo is at rank #42,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/.
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 69678, this pair ranks #53,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hap vs hypo
Shared letters: hp. Private to "hap": a. Private to "hypo": oy.
"hap" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hypo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hypo ← hhypo · hpyo · hyop · hyppo · hyypo · yhpo
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hap" and "hypo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hap" or "hypo"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hap" and "hypo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hap" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hypo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,553 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hap" and "hypo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HMO vs hypo". 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 #53,553 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.