Which to use
“had” is a verb and “hoax” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,767
- “had” frequency rank
- #47,378
- “hoax” frequency rank
- 66145
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | had | hoax |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prétérit de have (« avoir »). | Canular, bobard, intox, en particulier diffusé sur Internet. |
Where the eye mixes had and hoax
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses had with hoax
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: had is \hæd\ while hoax is ^((h aspiré))\oks\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
had is recorded at frequency rank #18,767, classified as averb, pronounced \hæd\. hoax is at rank #47,378, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\oks\.
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 66145, this pair ranks #69,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of had vs hoax
Shared letters: ah. Private to "had": d. Private to "hoax": ox.
"had" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hoax" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hoax ← haox · hhoax · hoaxx · hoxa · ohax
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "had" and "hoax" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "had" or "hoax" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "had" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hoax" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "had" and "hoax" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hoax". 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 #69,080 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.