Which to use
“hão” is a verb and “ho” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,033
- “hão” frequency rank
- #8,490
- “ho” frequency rank
- 32523
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hão | ho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | terceira pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo haver | o |
Letter map: hão vs ho
Shared letters muted; letters that set hão and ho apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. hão runs 3 letters (CVV) against ho's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for hão / ho
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hão is averb and hoapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hão is recorded at frequency rank #24,033, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. ho is at rank #8,490, tagged as apron.
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 32523, this pair ranks #35,260 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hão vs ho
Shared letters: ho. Private to "hão": ã. Private to "ho": -.
"hão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ho" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hão" for "ho" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hão" or "ho"?
After this comparison
You've compared "hão" and "ho". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "hão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,260 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hão" and "ho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hão vs hui". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #35,260 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.