Have or of?
have is a verb meaning “To possess, own”; of is a preposition meaning “Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.)”. Use have as a verb and of as a preposition. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) of is about 4.9 times as common as have.
What is the difference between have and of?
| have | of | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | preposition, verb, noun, prefix |
| Meaning | To possess, own To hold, as something at someone's disposal A wealthy or privileged person | Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.) From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.) UKA regulatory body for a specified industry |
| Example | I have a house and a car | Take the chicken out of the freezer |
| Forms | has, having, had | ov, ob, o, o', a |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhæv/ /ˈhav/ /ˈhɛv/ | /ɒv/ /ɔv/ /ʌv/ |
| In writing | 5,129 times per million words | 25,119 times per million words |
Sources: have and of 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 have and of
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
of
- 1
Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.)
He hasn't been well of late
- 2
Eye dialect spelling of have and 've, chiefly in depictions of colloquial speech
I have refrained from giving many details which I might of done, from feelings of delicacy; indeed, they were of so dark and dreadful a nature, that I could do no more than hint…
- 3
Abbreviation of outfield
- 4
UKA regulatory body for a specified industry
- 5
From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.)
There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage
- 6
Abbreviation of outfielder
- 7
Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object
Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband
- 8
Abbreviation of OnlyFans (“an account on OnlyFans”)
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, have or of?
have appears 5,129 times per million words; of 25,119 times per million words.
have 5,129 times per million wordsof 25,119 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 have vs of?
“have vs of” is searched about 140 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“of vs have”, “have or of”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.