hadjvshaoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hadj is a noun, hao is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hadj” is a noun and “hao” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,748
“hadj” frequency rank
#43,972
“hao” frequency rank
70720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hadj hao
Definition Pèlerinage musulman aux lieux saints de la ville sainte de La Mecque, un des piliers de l’islam, obligatoire à tout musulman, au moins une fois dans sa vie, s’il en a les moyens financiers et physiques. Diminuer; s’épuiser; se consumer.

Where the eye mixes hadj and hao

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hadj
3 ch
hao

Why the eye confuses hadj with hao

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hadj is ^((h aspiré))\adʒ\ while hao is \haɔ˦\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hadj is recorded at frequency rank #26,748, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\adʒ\. hao is at rank #43,972, tagged as averb, pronounced \haɔ˦\.

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 70720, this pair ranks #50,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hadj vs hao

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hadj": dj. Private to "hao": o.

"hadj" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hao" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hadjahdj · haddj · hadjj · hajd · hdaj · hhadj

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hadj" and "hao" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hadj" is a noun and "hao" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hadj" vs "hao" - which ranks higher?
"hadj" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,748 in our French list, against #43,972 for "hao". 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 "hadj" and "hao" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hadj" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hadj" and "hao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hao 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 #50,293 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