Which to use
“having” is a verb and “hearing” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #233
- “having” frequency rank
- #1,602
- “hearing” frequency rank
- 1835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | having | hearing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of have | Able to hear, as opposed to deaf. |
Where the eye mixes having and hearing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: having vs hearing
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: having is /ˈhævɪŋ/ while hearing is /ˈhɪə.ɹɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
having is recorded at frequency rank #233, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhævɪŋ/. hearing is at rank #1,602, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɪə.ɹɪŋ/.
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 1835, this pair ranks #526,522 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of having vs hearing
Shared letters: aghin. Private to "having": v. Private to "hearing": er.
"having" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "hearing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "having" for "hearing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "having" or "hearing"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "having" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hearing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #526,522 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "having" and "hearing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hearing vs hemming". 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 #526,522 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.