habíavshabráWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“había” and “habrá” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#117
“había” frequency rank
#853
“habrá” frequency rank
970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature había habrá
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de haber. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de haber.

Where the eye mixes había and habrá

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

5 ch
había
5 ch
habrá

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. había ([aˈβ̞ia]) and habrá ([aˈβ̞ɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

había is recorded at frequency rank #117, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞ia]. habrá is at rank #853, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞ɾa].

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 970, this pair ranks #322,740 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of había vs habrá

Shared letters: abh. Private to "había": í. Private to "habrá": .

"había" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "habrá" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "había" and "habrá" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈβ̞ia] versus [aˈβ̞ɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "había" or "habrá"?
"había" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #117 in our Spanish list, against #853 for "habrá". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list