habitevshaitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“habite” and “hait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,007
“habite” frequency rank
#24,993
“hait” frequency rank
28000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature habite hait
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de habiter. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de haïr.

Where the eye mixes habite and hait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. habite runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against hait's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
habite
4 ch
hait

Why the eye confuses habite with hait

A purely visual mix-up. habite (\a.bit\) and hait (^((h aspiré))\ɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

habite is recorded at frequency rank #3,007, classified as averb, pronounced \a.bit\. hait is at rank #24,993, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɛ\.

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 28000, this pair ranks #325,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of habite vs hait

Shared letters: ahit. Private to "habite": be. Private to "hait": -.

"habite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "hait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • habite ← ahbite · habbite · habiet · habitte · habtie · haibte · hbaite · hhabite
  • hait ← ahit · haitt · hati · hhait · hiat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "habite" and "hait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.bit\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "habite" or "hait"?
"habite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,007 in our French list, against #24,993 for "hait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "habite" and "hait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "habite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "habite" and "hait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hait vs hash". 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 #325,499 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list