Which to use
“half” is a verb and “have” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,750
- “half” frequency rank
- #9,020
- “have” frequency rank
- 29770
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | half | have |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du prétérit de helfen. | Petite éminence qui, sur le panneton d’une clé bénarde, empêche celle-ci de traverser la serrure. |
Where the eye mixes half and have
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: half vs have
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: half is \half\ while have is ^((h aspiré))\av\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
half is recorded at frequency rank #20,750, classified as averb, pronounced \half\. have is at rank #9,020, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\av\.
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 29770, this pair ranks #314,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of half vs have
Shared letters: ah. Private to "half": fl. Private to "have": ev.
"half" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "have" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "half" for "have" ever safe?
Which is more common, "half" or "have"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "half" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "have" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,615 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "half" and "have" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "half 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 #314,615 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.