Which to use
“hani” is a noun and “hão” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,622
- “hani” frequency rank
- #24,033
- “hão” frequency rank
- 59655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hani | hão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | galo, macho da galinha (Gallus gallus) | terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo haver |
Where the eye mixes hani and hão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hani vs hão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hani is /ˈhaː.nɪ/ 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 59655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hani is recorded at frequency rank #35,622, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaː.nɪ/. 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 59655, this pair ranks #8,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hani vs hão
Shared letters: h. Private to "hani": ain. Private to "hão": oã.
"hani" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hani ← ahni · hain · hanni · hhani · hnai
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hani" for "hão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hani" or "hão"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hani" 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 #8,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hani" and "hão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hani 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 #8,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.