haovsheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hao is a intj, he is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hao” is an intj and “he” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,863
“hao” frequency rank
#139
“he” frequency rank
41002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hao he
Definition Se usaba para llamar a uno que estuviese distante. Unido a un pronombre personal clítico ("me, te, le, nos, os, les") o a un adverbio de lugar ("aquí, allí, ahí", etc.), señala la presencia o existencia de algo.

Where the eye mixes hao and he

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
hao
2 ch
he

Look-alike desk: hao vs he

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hao is [ˈao] while he is [ˈe]. 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 (intj vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hao is recorded at frequency rank #40,863, classified as anintj, pronounced [ˈao]. he is at rank #139, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈe].

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 41002, this pair ranks #156,040 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hao vs he

Shared letters: h. Private to "hao": ao. Private to "he": e.

"hao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "he" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hao" for "he" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hao" is an intj and "he" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hao" or "he"?
"he" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #139 in our Spanish list, against #40,863 for "hao". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "he" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #156,040 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hao" and "he" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hahn vs hao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #156,040 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list