Hai vs hair, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Hai” and “hair” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,805
“Hai” frequency rank: #13,530
“hair” frequency rank: 45335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Hai	hair
Definition	tubarão	cabelo

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

Hai

4 ch

hair

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Hai (/haɪ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and hair (/hɛə/, /hɛɹ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “Hai” sits inside “hair”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hai is recorded at frequency rank #31,805, classified as anoun, pronounced /haɪ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?). hair is at rank #13,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɛə/, /hɛɹ/.

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 45335, this pair ranks #20,073 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hai vs hair

Shared letters: ahi. Private to "Hai": -. Private to "hair": r.

"Hai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "hair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

hair ← ahir · hairr · hari · hhair · hiar

Frequency comparison

Hai#31,805

hair#13,530

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hai" and "hair" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/haɪ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /hɛə/, /hɛɹ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Hai" or "hair"?

"hair" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,530 in our Portuguese list, against #31,805 for "Hai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Hai vs hair

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 “Hai” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable