Which to use
“harem” is a noun and “hem” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,637
- “harem” frequency rank
- #35,982
- “hem” frequency rank
- 66619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | harem | hem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gynécée chez les musulmans. | Dont on se sert pour attirer l’attention, pour appeler. |
Where the eye mixes harem and hem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: harem vs hem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: harem is ^((h aspiré))\a.ʁɛm\ while hem is ^((h aspiré))\ɛm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
harem is recorded at frequency rank #30,637, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\a.ʁɛm\. hem is at rank #35,982, tagged as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɛm\.
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 66619, this pair ranks #67,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of harem vs hem
Shared letters: ehm. Private to "harem": ar. Private to "hem": -.
"harem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hem" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- harem ← ahrem · haerm · haremm · harme · harrem · hharem · hraem
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "harem" for "hem" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "harem" or "hem" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "harem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "harem" and "hem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hatem vs hem". 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 #67,043 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.