hastavshathTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,380
“hasta” frequency rank
#12,617
“hath” frequency rank
61997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hasta hath
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of hafta: Contraction of has to (“is required to”). third-person singular simple present indicative of have

Where the eye mixes hasta and hath

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
hasta
4 ch
hath

Why the eye confuses hasta with hath

A purely visual mix-up. hasta (/ˈhæstə/) and hath (/hæθ/) 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 61997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hasta is recorded at frequency rank #49,380, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhæstə/. hath is at rank #12,617, tagged as averb, pronounced /hæθ/.

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 61997, this pair ranks #90,969 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hasta vs hath

Shared letters: aht. Private to "hasta": s. Private to "hath": -.

"hasta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hastaahsta · hasat · hassta · hastta · hatsa · hhasta · hsata
  • hathahth · haht · hathh · hatth · hhath · htah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hasta" and "hath" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈhæstə/ versus /hæθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hasta" vs "hath" - which ranks higher?
"hath" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,617 in our English list, against #49,380 for "hasta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hasta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #90,969 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hasta" and "hath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hasta vs Hosea". 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 #90,969 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