hawksvshicksTell them apart

Quick tell: hawks is a verb, hicks is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hawks” is a verb and “hicks” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,631
“hawks” frequency rank
#33,111
“hicks” frequency rank
66742
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hawks hicks
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hawk lautmalerische Nachahmung des Schluckaufs

Letter map: hawks vs hicks

Shared letters muted; letters that set hawks and hicks apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
hawks
5 ch
hicks

Grammar separator: hawks vs hicks

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hawks is averb and hicksanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hawks is recorded at frequency rank #33,631, classified as averb, pronounced […]. hicks is at rank #33,111, tagged as anintj, pronounced [hɪks].

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 66742, this pair ranks #563,007 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hawks vs hicks

Shared letters: hks. Private to "hawks": aw. Private to "hicks": ci.

"hawks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "hicks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hawksahwks · hakws · hawkks · hawkss · hawsk · hawwks · hhawks · hwaks
  • hickshciks · hhicks · hiccks · hickks · hickss · hicsk · hikcs · ihcks

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hawks" and "hicks" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hawks" is a verb and "hicks" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hawks" vs "hicks" - which ranks higher?
"hicks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,111 in our German list, against #33,631 for "hawks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hawks" vs "hicks" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hawks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hicks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #563,007 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hawks" and "hicks" 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 #563,007 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list