Which to use
“hacking” is an adjective and “hating” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,430
- “hacking” frequency rank
- #9,051
- “hating” frequency rank
- 17481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hacking | hating |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Short and interrupted, broken, jerky; hacky. | present participle and gerund of hate |
Where the eye mixes hacking and hating
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hacking and hating
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hacking is /ˈhækɪŋ/ while hating is /ˈheɪtɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hacking is recorded at frequency rank #8,430, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhækɪŋ/. hating is at rank #9,051, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈheɪtɪŋ/.
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 17481, this pair ranks #451,154 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hacking vs hating
Shared letters: aghin. Private to "hacking": ck. Private to "hating": t.
"hacking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "hating" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hacking" and "hating" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hacking" or "hating"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hacking" and "hating" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hacking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hating" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,154 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hacking" and "hating" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hating vs hing". 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 #451,154 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.