hardvshareWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hard is a adjective, hare is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hard” is an adjective and “hare” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,386
“hard” frequency rank
#40,584
“hare” frequency rank
48970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hard hare
Definition hart, fest der Hase

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hard and hare apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hard
4 ch
hare

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hard is anadjective and hareanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “hard” becomes e in “hare”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hard is recorded at frequency rank #8,386, classified as anadj, pronounced [hɑː(ɹ)d]. hare is at rank #40,584, tagged as anoun, 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 48970, this pair ranks #1,228,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hard vs hare

Shared letters: ahr. Private to "hard": d. Private to "hare": e.

"hard" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hardahrd · hadr · hardd · harrd · hhard · hrad
  • hareahre · harre · hhare · hrae

Frequency comparison

hard#8,386
hare#40,584

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hard" and "hare" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hard" is an adjective and "hare" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hard" or "hare"?
"hard" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,386 in our German list, against #40,584 for "hare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hard vs hare

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hard”; for a noun, it's “hare”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hard” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list