hanvshepWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: han is a onomatopoeia, hep is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“han” is an onomatopoeia and “hep” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,553
“han” frequency rank
#47,935
“hep” frequency rank
56488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature han hep
Definition Exclamation exprimant le cri sourd et guttural d’un homme fournissant un effort. Sert principalement à appeler ou interpeller quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes han and hep

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
han
3 ch
hep

Look-alike desk: han vs hep

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: han is ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃\ while hep is \ɛp\. 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 (onomatopoeia vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

han is recorded at frequency rank #8,553, classified as anonomatopoeia, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃\. hep is at rank #47,935, tagged as anintj, pronounced \ɛp\.

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 56488, this pair ranks #120,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of han vs hep

Shared letters: h. Private to "han": an. Private to "hep": ep.

"han" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hep" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "han" for "hep" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "han" is an onomatopoeia and "hep" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "han" vs "hep" - which ranks higher?
"han" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,553 in our French list, against #47,935 for "hep". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "han" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hep" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "han" and "hep" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #120,823 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