henvsheurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hen” and “heur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,208
“hen” frequency rank
#35,538
“heur” frequency rank
81746
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hen heur
Definition Poule. Bonne fortune, chance heureuse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hen and heur apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
hen
4 ch
heur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hen (\ˈhɛn\) and heur (^((h muet))\œʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81746, 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\. heur is at rank #35,538, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\œʁ\.

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 81746, this pair ranks #18,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hen vs heur

Shared letters: eh. Private to "hen": n. Private to "heur": ru.

"hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "heur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heurehur · heru · heurr · hheur

Frequency comparison

hen#46,208
heur#35,538

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hen" and "heur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈhɛn\ versus ^((h muet))\œʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hen" or "heur"?
"heur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,538 in our French list, against #46,208 for "hen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hen vs heur

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hen” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list