hamavshapWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hama is a adjective, hap is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hama” is an adjective and “hap” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,985
“hama” frequency rank
#41,324
“hap” frequency rank
73309
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hama hap
Definition Flou, incertain, inconcevable. Ouvrir.

Where the eye mixes hama and hap

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

4 ch
hama
3 ch
hap

Visual trap between hama and hap

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hama is \ˈhɑ.mɑ\ while hap is \ˈhap\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hama is recorded at frequency rank #31,985, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈhɑ.mɑ\. hap is at rank #41,324, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈhap\.

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 73309, this pair ranks #40,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hama vs hap

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hama": m. Private to "hap": p.

"hama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hap" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hamaahma · haam · hamma · hhama · hmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hama" and "hap" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hama" is an adjective and "hap" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hama" or "hap"?
"hama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,985 in our French list, against #41,324 for "hap". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "hama" and "hap" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hap" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hama" and "hap" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hap 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 #40,926 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