Which to use
“hands” is a noun and “hawks” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,248
- “hands” frequency rank
- #33,631
- “hawks” frequency rank
- 52879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hands | hawks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs hand | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hawk |
Letter map: hands vs hawks
Shared letters muted; letters that set hands and hawks apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Role in the sentence - hands and hawks
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hands is anoun and hawksaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hands is recorded at frequency rank #19,248, classified as anoun, pronounced [hændz]. hawks is at rank #33,631, tagged as averb, pronounced […].
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 52879, this pair ranks #1,079,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hands vs hawks
Shared letters: ahs. Private to "hands": dn. Private to "hawks": kw.
"hands" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "hawks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hands" for "hawks" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hands" vs "hawks" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "hands" vs "hawks" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "hands" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hawks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,079,716 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hands" and "hawks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hawks vs puzzles". 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 #1,079,716 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.