have
/ˈhæv/verb, noun
have is spelled H-A-V-E. The wrong spelling people search most is ahve: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 99 of all searches for the word. Have is a verb meaning “To possess, own”.
How many letters and syllables are in have?
| Letters | 4: H-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 5,129 times per million words; the 21st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 5; the most searched, ahve, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell have?
Have is spelled H-A-V-E. 5 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 45 of the searches for have in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is have?
Have appears 5,129 times per million words in written English, the 21st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce have?
- US /ˈhæv/
- British /ˈhav/
- /ˈhɛv/
Have has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-have.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_have.ogg, En-uk-to_have.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with have
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with have?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as have from its last stressed vowel (/æv/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of have
- has present, singular, he/she/it
- having participle, present
- had participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
- 've
- hae
- hav
- haves plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does have mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To possess, own.
I have a house and a car.
- 2
To hold, as something at someone's disposal.
Look what I have here–a frog I found on the street!
- 3
To include as a part, ingredient, or feature.
The stove has a handle. The shirt has sleeves.
- 4
Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.
I have two sisters.
- 5
To consume or use up (a particular substance or resource, especially food or drink).
I have breakfast at six o'clock.
- 6
To undertake or perform (an action or activity).
Can I have a look at that?
- 7
To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.
What class do you have right now? I have English.
- 8
To experience, go through, undergo.
We had a hard year last year, with the locust swarms and all that.
noun
- 1
A wealthy or privileged person.
- 2
One who has some (contextually specified) thing.
- 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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate have?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of have: hv.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Have in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | avoir , prendre , passer , être |
| German | haben, besitzen |
| Portuguese | ter , fazer , with or without the adverb já |
| Spanish | tener , tomar , haber , disponer |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does have come from?
From Middle English haven, from Old English habban (“to have”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, an imperfective formation to the root *kap- (“to take, seize, catch”). Related to heave.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).