Which to use
“haven” and “hen” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,088
- “haven” frequency rank
- #46,208
- “hen” frequency rank
- 73296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haven | hen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Refuge, abri. | Poule. |
Where the eye mixes haven and hen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: haven vs hen
A purely visual mix-up. haven (\ˈheɪ.vən\) and hen (\ˈhɛn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haven is recorded at frequency rank #27,088, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈheɪ.vən\. hen is at rank #46,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈhɛn\.
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 73296, this pair ranks #40,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of haven vs hen
Shared letters: ehn. Private to "haven": av. Private to "hen": -.
"haven" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- haven ← ahven · haevn · havenn · havne · havven · hhaven · hvaen
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "haven" and "hen" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "haven" or "hen"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "haven" and "hen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "haven" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haven" and "hen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hen". 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 #40,970 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.