How many close friends do you have?
Source: tatoeba (1354)
How
/haʊ/
Synonyms for "how" (18 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (4)
Strong matches (5)
Related words (9)
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: as, by what means, como, emphatic modifier, exclamatory intensifier.
- Sentence evidence is available for how, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from derived_reverse, opengloss.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "how".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "how"
Keep "how" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "how" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "how", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "how" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
5 entriesMore specific
11 entrieshow clearlyhow deeplyhow farhow fasthow littlehow longhow manyhow muchhow oftenhow quicklyhow to
Collocations
7 entrieshow farhow fasthow longhow manyhow muchhow oftenhow well
Derivations
2 entriesTranslations
232 translations across 146 languages.
Adyghe
1 entries- сыдэу adv (in what manner)
Afrikaans
1 entries- hoe adv (in what manner)
Albanian
1 entries- si adv (in what manner)
Ancient Greek
1 entries- πῶς adv (in what manner)
Antillean Creole
4 entries- ankijan adv (in what manner)
- kijan adv (in what manner)
- kimannyè adv (in what manner)
- okonsa adv (in what manner)
Arabic
4 entries- ازاي adv (in what manner)
- شلون adv (in what manner)
- كيف adv (in what manner)
- كيف adv (in what manner)
Armenian
1 entries- ինչպես adv (in what manner)
Aromanian
1 entries- cum adv (in what manner)
Assamese
1 entries- কেনেকৈ adv (in what manner)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
1 entries- ܕܵܐܟ݂ܝܼ adv (in what manner)
Asturian
1 entries- cómo adv (in what manner)
Azerbaijani
1 entries- necə adv (in what manner)
Belarusian
1 entries- як adv (in what manner)
Bengali
2 entries- কিভাবে adv (in what manner)
- কীভাবে adv (in what manner)
Bikol Central
1 entries- pano adv (in what manner)
Bulgarian
2 entries- как adv (in what manner)
- ко́лко adv (in what manner)
Burmese
2 entries- ဘယ် adv (in what manner)
- ဘယ်လို adv (in what manner)
Catalan
1 entries- com adv (in what manner)
Central Kurdish
1 entries- چۆن adv (in what manner)
Cheyenne
1 entries- tónėše- adv (in what manner)
Chichewa
1 entries- bwanji adv (in what manner)
Chickasaw
1 entries- kaniht adv (in what manner)
Chinese
4 entries- за adv (in what manner)
- заму adv (in what manner)
- 如何 adv (in what manner)
- 怎仔樣 /怎仔样 adv (in what manner)
Chinese Cantonese
4 entries- 如何 adv (in what manner)
- 怎樣 /怎样 adv (in what manner)
- 怎麼 /怎么 adv (in what manner)
- 怎麼樣 /怎么样 adv (in what manner)
Chinese Mandarin
4 entries- 咋 adv (in what manner)
- 如何 adv (in what manner)
- 怎樣 /怎样 adv (in what manner)
- 怎麼 /怎么 adv (in what manner)
Church Slavic
1 entries- како adv (in what manner)
Crimean Tatar
3 entries- nasıl adv (in what manner)
- neday adv (in what manner)
- qadiy adv (in what manner)
Czech
1 entries- jak adv (in what manner)
Danish
2 entries- hvordan adv (in what manner)
- hvorledes adv (in what manner)
Dupaningan Agta
1 entries- panyan adv (in what manner)
Dutch
1 entries- hoe adv (in what manner)
Eastern Mari
1 entries- кузе adv (in what manner)
Eastern Min Chinese
1 entries- 將樣 /将样 adv (in what manner)
Egyptian
1 entries- ḥr zj jšst adv (in what manner)
Esperanto
1 entries- kiel adv (in what manner)
Estonian
1 entries- kuidas adv (in what manner)
Finnish
4 entries- kuinka adv (in what manner)
- millä tavalla adv (in what manner)
- millä tavoin adv (in what manner)
- miten adv (in what manner)
French
1 entries- comment adv (in what manner)
Friulian
1 entries- cemût adv (in what manner)
Galician
1 entries- como adv (in what manner)
Georgian
1 entries- როგორ adv (in what manner)
German
1 entries- wie adv (in what manner)
Gothic
1 entries- 𐌱𐌹𐍈𐌴 adv (in what manner)
Greek
1 entries- πώς adv (in what manner)
Haitian Creole
1 entries- kòman adv (in what manner)
Hakka Chinese
2 entries- 仰般 adv (in what manner)
- 如何 adv (in what manner)
Hanunoo
2 entries- abitay adv (in what manner)
- kabitay adv (in what manner)
Hebrew
2 entries- אֵיך adv (in what manner)
- כֵּיצַד adv (in what manner)
Hindi
2 entries- कैसा adv (in what manner)
- कैसे adv (in what manner)
Hungarian
2 entries- hogy adv (in what manner)
- hogyan adv (in what manner)
Hunsrik
1 entries- wie adv (in what manner)
Icelandic
1 entries- hvernig adv (in what manner)
Ido
1 entries- quale adv (in what manner)
Indonesian
1 entries- bagaimana adv (in what manner)
Interlingua
1 entries- como adv (in what manner)
Iquito
1 entries- jaátaaraa adv (in what manner)
Iraqi Arabic
1 entries- شلون adv (in what manner)
Irish
3 entries- cad é mar adv (in what manner)
- conas adv (in what manner)
- cén chaoi adv (in what manner)
Isan
1 entries- จั่งได๋ adv (in what manner)
Istriot
1 entries- cume adv (in what manner)
Italian
1 entries- come adv (in what manner)
Japanese
3 entries- どう adv (in what manner)
- どうやって adv (in what manner)
- どのように adv (in what manner)
Jeju
1 entries- 어떵 adv (in what manner)
Kapampangan
2 entries- katnamu adv (in what manner)
- makananu adv (in what manner)
Kazakh
2 entries- қалай adv (in what manner)
- қалайша adv (in what manner)
Khmer
1 entries- របៀបណា adv (in what manner)
Korean
2 entries- 어떻게 adv (in what manner)
- 어찌 adv (in what manner)
Kyrgyz
2 entries- кандай adv (in what manner)
- кандайча adv (in what manner)
Lao
1 entries- ແນວໃດ adv (in what manner)
Latin
4 entries- qualiter adv (in what manner)
- quemadmodum adv (in what manner)
- quārē adv (in what manner)
- quī adv (in what manner)
Lithuanian
1 entries- kaip adv (in what manner)
Low German
1 entries- wiu adv (in what manner)
Lower Sorbian
1 entries- kak adv (in what manner)
Luhya
1 entries- orie adv (in what manner)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- wéi adv (in what manner)
Macedonian
1 entries- како adv (in what manner)
Malay
2 entries- bagaimana adv (in what manner)
- macam mana adv (in what manner)
Malayalam
1 entries- എങ്ങനെ adv (in what manner)
Maltese
1 entries- kif adv (in what manner)
Manchu
1 entries- ᠠᡩᠠᡵᠠᠮᡝ adv (in what manner)
Maore Comorian
1 entries- jeje adv (in what manner)
Mauritian Creole
1 entries- kouma adv (in what manner)
Mongolian
1 entries- яаж adv (in what manner)
Mòcheno
1 entries- bia adv (in what manner)
Māori
1 entries- pēhea adv (in what manner)
Nahuatl
2 entries- quen adv (in what manner)
- quenin adv (in what manner)
Neapolitan
1 entries- cómme adv (in what manner)
Nepali
1 entries- कसरी adv (in what manner)
Ngarrindjeri
1 entries- mengye adv (in what manner)
Ngazidja Comorian
1 entries- hali dje adv (in what manner)
Northern Kurdish
2 entries- çawa adv (in what manner)
- çawan adv (in what manner)
Norwegian Bokmål
3 entries- hvordan adv (in what manner)
- hvorledes adv (in what manner)
- åssen adv (in what manner)
Norwegian Nynorsk
2 entries- korleis adv (in what manner)
- korso adv (in what manner)
Occitan
1 entries- cossí adv (in what manner)
Old English
1 entries- hū adv (in what manner)
Old Irish
4 entries- cindas adv (in what manner)
- co adv (in what manner)
- cía chruth adv (in what manner)
- cía indas adv (in what manner)
Persian
3 entries- چجور adv (in what manner)
- چطور adv (in what manner)
- چگونه adv (in what manner)
Polish
1 entries- jak adv (in what manner)
Portuguese
1 entries- como adv (in what manner)
Rapa Nui
1 entries- pehea adv (in what manner)
Romanian
1 entries- cum adv (in what manner)
Romansch
2 entries- co adv (in what manner)
- cu adv (in what manner)
Russian
2 entries- как adv (in what manner)
- каки́м о́бразом adv (in what manner)
Sardinian
4 entries- acomenti adv (in what manner)
- comente adv (in what manner)
- comenti adv (in what manner)
- cumenti adv (in what manner)
Scots
1 entries- hou adv (in what manner)
Serbo-Croatian
2 entries- kako adv (in what manner)
- како adv (in what manner)
Sicilian
1 entries- comu adv (in what manner)
Slovak
1 entries- jak adv (in what manner)
Slovene
1 entries- kakó adv (in what manner)
Southern Altai
1 entries- кандый adv (in what manner)
Spanish
1 entries- cómo adv (in what manner)
Sundanese
1 entries- kumaha adv (in what manner)
Swabian
1 entries- wia adv (in what manner)
Swahili
3 entries- -je adv (in what manner)
- jinsi adv (in what manner)
- namna adv (in what manner)
Swedish
1 entries- hur adv (in what manner)
Tagalog
1 entries- paano adv (in what manner)
Tajik
2 entries- чӣ гуна adv (in what manner)
- чӣ тавр adv (in what manner)
Tamil
1 entries- எப்படி adv (in what manner)
Tatar
1 entries- ничек adv (in what manner)
Telugu
1 entries- ఏవిధముగా adv (in what manner)
Thai
2 entries- ยังไง adv (in what manner)
- อย่างไร adv (in what manner)
Tibetan
2 entries- ག་འདྲས་ཟེ adv (in what manner)
- ཇི་ལྟར adv (in what manner)
Tocharian B
1 entries- mäkte adv (in what manner)
Tooro
1 entries- -ta adv (in what manner)
Turkish
1 entries- nasıl adv (in what manner)
Turkmen
2 entries- neneň adv (in what manner)
- nähili adv (in what manner)
Ukrainian
2 entries- як adv (in what manner)
- як са́ме adv (in what manner)
Urdu
1 entries- کیسے adv (in what manner)
Uyghur
1 entries- قانداق adv (in what manner)
Uzbek
2 entries- necha adv (in what manner)
- qanday adv (in what manner)
Venetan
1 entries- come adv (in what manner)
Vietnamese
3 entries- làm sao adv (in what manner)
- như thế nào adv (in what manner)
- sao adv (in what manner)
Volapük
1 entries- lio adv (in what manner)
Walloon
2 entries- comint adv (in what manner)
- kimint adv (in what manner)
Welsh
3 entries- fel adv (in what manner)
- ffordd adv (in what manner)
- sut adv (in what manner)
White Hmong
1 entries- li cas adv (in what manner)
Wolof
1 entries- nan adv (in what manner)
Wu Chinese
1 entries- 哪能 adv (in what manner)
Yakut
1 entries- хайдах adv (in what manner)
Yiddish
1 entries- ווי adv (in what manner)
Yoruba
1 entries- báwo adv (in what manner)
Yucatec Maya
1 entries- bix adv (in what manner)
Zazaki
1 entries- seni adv (in what manner)
Zealandic
1 entries- 'oe adv (in what manner)
Zhuang
4 entries- baenzyiengh adv (in what manner)
- baeq adv (in what manner)
- daengjlawz adv (in what manner)
- hauhlawz adv (in what manner)
Zulu
1 entries- kanjani adv (in what manner)
Sample sentences
46 total sentences available.
How long did you stay?
Source: tatoeba (1373)
She's asking how that's possible.
Source: tatoeba (1387)
I don't know how to demonstrate it, since it's too obvious!
Source: tatoeba (1418)
Showing 4 of 46 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "how"?
Closest matches include as, by what means, como, emphatic modifier, exclamatory intensifier.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "how"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.