Which to use
“haiku” is a noun and “hark” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,105
- “haiku” frequency rank
- #36,592
- “hark” frequency rank
- 62697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haiku | hark |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A Japanese poem in three lines, the first and last consisting of five morae, and the second consisting of seven morae, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme. | To listen attentively. |
Where the eye mixes haiku and hark
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. haiku runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against hark's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between haiku and hark
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: haiku is /ˈhaɪkuː/ while hark is /hɑː(ɹ)k/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haiku is recorded at frequency rank #26,105, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪkuː/. hark is at rank #36,592, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɑː(ɹ)k/.
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 62697, this pair ranks #87,031 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of haiku vs hark
Shared letters: ahk. Private to "haiku": iu. Private to "hark": r.
"haiku" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "hark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "haiku" for "hark" ever safe?
Frequency check: "haiku" vs "hark" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "haiku" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,031 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haiku" and "hark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hark vs Hoare". 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 #87,031 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.