haovsheadConfusable pair

Quick tell: hao is a verb, head is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#43,972
“hao” frequency rank
#18,215
“head” frequency rank
62187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hao head
Definition Diminuer; s’épuiser; se consumer. Relatif à la tête.

Where the eye mixes hao and head

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

3 ch
hao
4 ch
head

Visual trap between hao and head

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hao is \haɔ˦\ while head is \hɛd\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hao is recorded at frequency rank #43,972, classified as averb, pronounced \haɔ˦\. head is at rank #18,215, tagged as anadj, pronounced \hɛd\.

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 62187, this pair ranks #88,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hao vs head

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hao": o. Private to "head": de.

"hao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "head" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • headehad · haed · headd · heda · hhead

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hao" for "head" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hao" is a verb and "head" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hao" vs "head" - which ranks higher?
"head" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,215 in our French list, against #43,972 for "hao". 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 "hao" and "head" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "head" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #88,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hao" and "head" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hao 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 #88,403 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