Could I just use a simple metal shower or sink faucet handle, instead?

AS long as it doesn't have a blig plastic skirt like some do?



hose bib handle, more than one design
A friend has a garden faucet / hosebib with a broken handle.
Is there any chance this faucet won't work with the usual handle?
Normally this would seem like a no-brainer but the house is 40 years
old and the handle seems like it might be different from all the
others I've seen.
It only had three spokes, all of which are broken now, and there is no
recess where the screw goes in.
And he feels he has to turn all the water off to the house to unscrew
the handle, and he's making noises about taking off the big packing
nut and taking all that to a plumbing supply house. I think all he
has to do is undo the screw and wiggle off the handle, but if there
was more than one style 40 years ago, I don't want to lead him wrong.

Google searches have gotten me nowhere, but maybe I searched on the
wrong words.