HaivshoaxConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#30,196
“Hai” frequency rank
#47,378
“hoax” frequency rank
77574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hai hoax
Definition Requin, squale. Canular, bobard, intox, en particulier diffusé sur Internet.

Where the eye mixes Hai and hoax

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Hai runs 3 letters (CVV) against hoax's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
Hai
4 ch
hoax

Look-alike desk: Hai vs hoax

A purely visual mix-up. Hai (\haɪ̯\) and hoax (^((h aspiré))\oks\) 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 77574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hai is recorded at frequency rank #30,196, classified as anoun, pronounced \haɪ̯\. 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 77574, this pair ranks #27,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hai vs hoax

Shared letters: ah. Private to "Hai": i. Private to "hoax": ox.

"Hai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hoax" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hoax ← haox · hhoax · hoaxx · hoxa · ohax

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hai" and "hoax" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\haɪ̯\ versus ^((h aspiré))\oks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hai" or "hoax"?
"Hai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,196 in our French list, against #47,378 for "hoax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hai" 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 #27,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hai" 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 #27,981 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