haven
/ˈheɪvən/
"haven" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“haven” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,797 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,797
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | haven |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈheɪvən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,797 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “haven” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for haven is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈheɪvən/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,797 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for haven, with forms such as "ahven", "haevn", and "havenn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hen", "hive", "haze", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn, French havre), from Proto-Germ… The correct English form is haven, spelled H-A-V-E-N.
Definition
- 1A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
- 2A safe place.
- 3A peaceful or tranquil place.
Etymology
From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (“haven; harbour; port”), from Proto-West Germanic *habanu, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn, French havre), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (“harbor, recess, haven”)). Doublet of abra.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahven,haevn,havenn,havne,havven,hhaven,hvaen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of haven - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “haven”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-V-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈheɪvən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hen” - see the side-by-side comparison. haven vs hen
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.