haovshisWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,972
“hao” frequency rank
#11,230
“his” frequency rank
55202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hao his
Definition Diminuer; s’épuiser; se consumer. Son, sa ou ses (à lui).

Where the eye mixes hao and his

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

3 ch
hao
3 ch
his

Why the eye confuses hao with his

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hao is \haɔ˦\ while his is \hɪz\. 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 determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55202, 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˦\. 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 55202, this pair ranks #128,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hao vs his

Shared letters: h. Private to "hao": ao. Private to "his": is.

"hao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "his" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hao" and "his" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hao" is a verb and "his" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "hao" or "his" show up more?
"his" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,230 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "hao" and "his" 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 "his" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hao" and "his" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hao vs hash". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #128,991 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