hautsvshavasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,621
“hauts” frequency rank
#34,113
“havas” frequency rank
36734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hauts havas
Definition Masculin pluriel de haut. Deuxième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe haver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hauts and havas apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hauts
5 ch
havas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hauts is ^((h aspiré))\o\ while havas is ^((h aspiré))\a.va\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hauts is recorded at frequency rank #2,621, classified as anadj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\o\. havas is at rank #34,113, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\a.va\.

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 36734, this pair ranks #267,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hauts vs havas

Shared letters: ahs. Private to "hauts": tu. Private to "havas": v.

"hauts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "havas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hautsahuts · hatus · haust · hautss · hautts · hhauts · huats
  • havasahvas · haavs · havass · havsa · havvas · hhavas · hvaas

Frequency comparison

hauts#2,621
havas#34,113

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hauts" and "havas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hauts" is an adjective and "havas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hauts" or "havas"?
"hauts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,621 in our French list, against #34,113 for "havas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hauts vs havas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hauts”; for a verb, it's “havas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hauts” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list