Which to use
“half” is an adjective and “hão” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,952
- “half” frequency rank
- #24,033
- “hão” frequency rank
- 37985
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | half | hão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | meio | terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo haver |
Where the eye mixes half and hão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: half vs hão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: half is /ɦɑlf/ 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
half is recorded at frequency rank #13,952, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɦɑlf/. 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 37985, this pair ranks #28,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of half vs hão
Shared letters: h. Private to "half": afl. Private to "hão": oã.
"half" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- half ← ahlf · hafl · halff · hallf · hhalf · hlaf
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "half" for "hão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "half" or "hão"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "half" 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 #28,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "half" 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 #28,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.