Which to use
“hen” and “het” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,208
- “hen” frequency rank
- #17,730
- “het” frequency rank
- 63938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hen | het |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poule. | Variante de hèt. |
Where the eye mixes hen and het
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hen vs het
A purely visual mix-up. hen (\ˈhɛn\) and het (^((h aspiré))\ɛt\) 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 a single letter - n in “hen” becomes t in “het”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hen is recorded at frequency rank #46,208, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈhɛn\. het is at rank #17,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɛt\.
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 63938, this pair ranks #79,432 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hen vs het
Shared letters: eh. Private to "hen": n. Private to "het": t.
"hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "het" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hen" for "het" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hen" vs "het" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hen" and "het" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "het" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #79,432 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hen" and "het" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hen". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #79,432 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.