haevshatWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#49,121
“hae” frequency rank
#25,348
“hat” frequency rank
74469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hae hat
Definition Kava. Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de haben.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hae and hat apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
hae
3 ch
hat

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hae is \hae\ while hat is \hat\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “hae” becomes t in “hat”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hae is recorded at frequency rank #49,121, classified as anoun, pronounced \hae\. hat is at rank #25,348, tagged as averb, pronounced \hat\.

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 74469, this pair ranks #37,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hae vs hat

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hae": e. Private to "hat": t.

"hae" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

hae#49,121
hat#25,348

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hae" and "hat" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hae" is a noun and "hat" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hae" or "hat"?
"hat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,348 in our French list, against #49,121 for "hae". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hae vs hat

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “hae”; for a verb, it's “hat”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hae” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list