Which to use
“haired” is an adjective and “hiked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,225
- “haired” frequency rank
- #30,826
- “hiked” frequency rank
- 42051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haired | hiked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bearing one's own hair as grown and yet attached; neither bald nor hairless. | simple past and past participle of hike |
Where the eye mixes haired and hiked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses haired with hiked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: haired is /hɛəd/ while hiked is /haɪkt/. 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 42051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haired is recorded at frequency rank #11,225, classified as anadj, pronounced /hɛəd/. hiked is at rank #30,826, tagged as averb, pronounced /haɪkt/.
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 42051, this pair ranks #252,743 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of haired vs hiked
Shared letters: dehi. Private to "haired": ar. Private to "hiked": k.
"haired" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "hiked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "haired" for "hiked" ever safe?
Frequency check: "haired" vs "hiked" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "haired" and "hiked" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "haired" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hiked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,743 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haired" and "hiked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hiked vs hoke". 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 #252,743 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.