Which to use
“hair” is a noun and “hão” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,530
- “hair” frequency rank
- #24,033
- “hão” frequency rank
- 37563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hair | hão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cabelo | terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo haver |
Where the eye mixes hair and hão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. hair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against hão's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hair with hão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hair is /hɛə/, /hɛɹ/ while hão is /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hair is recorded at frequency rank #13,530, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɛə/, /hɛɹ/. hão is at rank #24,033, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃].
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 37563, this pair ranks #29,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hair vs hão
Shared letters: h. Private to "hair": air. Private to "hão": oã.
"hair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hair ← ahir · hairr · hari · hhair · hiar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hair" for "hão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hair" or "hão"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hair" and "hão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hão vs hui". 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 #29,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.