haievshisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: haie is a noun, his is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“haie” is a noun and “his” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,379
“haie” frequency rank
#11,230
“his” frequency rank
27609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature haie his
Definition Ensemble linéaire, naturel ou artificiel, de végétaux (dont parfois des arbres), ligneux, semi-ligneux, herbacés, plus ou moins homogène (taille, espèces, etc.) et servant parfois de clôture, de limite entre deux parcelles cadastrales ou de protection contre la vue et le vent ou simplement dans un but purement décoratif. Son, sa ou ses (à lui).

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
haie
3 ch
his

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

haie and his form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

haie is recorded at frequency rank #16,379, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɛ\. his is at rank #11,230, tagged as adet, pronounced \hɪz\.

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 27609, this pair ranks #327,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

haie#16,379
his#11,230

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "haie" and "his" be used interchangeably?
No, "haie" and "his" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering haie vs his

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “haie”; for a determiner, it's “his”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “haie” 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