hackvshecConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,232
“hack” frequency rank
#16,639
“hec” frequency rank
40871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hack hec
Definition Piratage informatique. Planche qu'on pose sur la vendange avant de la soumettre à l'action du pressoir.

Letter map: hack vs hec

Shared letters muted; letters that set hack and hec apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
hack
3 ch
hec

Spelling & dictionary notes on hack vs hec

hack and hec are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hack is recorded at frequency rank #24,232, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ak\. hec is at rank #16,639, tagged as anoun.

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 40871, this pair ranks #237,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hack vs hec

Shared letters: ch. Private to "hack": ak. Private to "hec": e.

"hack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hec" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hackahck · hacck · hackk · hakc · hcak · hhack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hack" for "hec" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary French text, does "hack" or "hec" show up more?
"hec" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,639 in our French list, against #24,232 for "hack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "hack" and "hec".

  • Full dictionary entry for "hack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hec" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hack" and "hec" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hack 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 #237,290 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