Which to use
“hails” and “hares” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,465
- “hails” frequency rank
- #37,482
- “hares” frequency rank
- 61947
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hails | hares |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hail | plural of hare |
Where the eye mixes hails and hares
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hails vs hares
A purely visual mix-up. hails (/heɪlz/) and hares (/hɛɚz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hails is recorded at frequency rank #24,465, classified as anoun, pronounced /heɪlz/. hares is at rank #37,482, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɛɚz/.
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 61947, this pair ranks #91,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hails vs hares
Shared letters: ahs. Private to "hails": il. Private to "hares": er.
"hails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hails" and "hares" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hails" or "hares"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hails" and "hares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hares 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 #91,223 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.