Which to use
“habiter” and “hanter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,969
- “habiter” frequency rank
- #26,392
- “hanter” frequency rank
- 34361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | habiter | hanter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire sa demeure, son séjour quelque part ; y vivre d’habitude. | Fréquenter quelqu’un que l’on suppose de mauvaise influence ou sur lequel on exerce une mauvaise influence. |
Where the eye mixes habiter and hanter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. habiter runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against hanter's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between habiter and hanter
A purely visual mix-up. habiter (^((h muet))\a.bi.te\) and hanter (^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃.te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
habiter is recorded at frequency rank #7,969, classified as averb, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bi.te\. hanter is at rank #26,392, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃.te\.
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 34361, this pair ranks #284,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of habiter vs hanter
Shared letters: aehrt. Private to "habiter": bi. Private to "hanter": n.
"habiter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "hanter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "habiter" for "hanter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "habiter" vs "hanter" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "habiter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hanter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #284,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "habiter" and "hanter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hanter vs haters". 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 #284,380 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.