Which to use
“hailed” and “hired” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,184
- “hailed” frequency rank
- #3,562
- “hired” frequency rank
- 18746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hailed | hired |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of hail | simple past and past participle of hire |
Where the eye mixes hailed and hired
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hailed and hired
A purely visual mix-up. hailed (/heɪld/) and hired (/ˈhaɪəd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hailed is recorded at frequency rank #15,184, classified as averb, pronounced /heɪld/. hired is at rank #3,562, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhaɪəd/.
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 18746, this pair ranks #442,796 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hailed vs hired
Shared letters: dehi. Private to "hailed": al. Private to "hired": r.
"hailed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "hired" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hailed" and "hired" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hailed" or "hired"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hailed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hired" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #442,796 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hailed" and "hired" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hailed vs Haller". 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 #442,796 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.