hairy vs hark, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hairy” is an adjective and “hark” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,615
“hairy” frequency rank: #36,592
“hark” frequency rank: 46207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hairy	hark
Definition	Having a lot of body hair.	To listen attentively.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hairy and hark apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

hairy

4 ch

hark

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hairy is /ˈhɛə.ɹi/ 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hairy is recorded at frequency rank #9,615, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛə.ɹi/. 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 46207, this pair ranks #213,965 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hairy vs hark

Shared letters: ahr. Private to "hairy": iy. Private to "hark": k.

"hairy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "hark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

hairy ← ahiry · hairry · hairyy · haiyr · hariy · hhairy · hiary
hark ← ahrk · hakr · harkk · harrk · hhark · hrak

Frequency comparison

hairy#9,615

hark#36,592

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hairy" and "hark" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hairy" is an adjective and "hark" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "hairy" or "hark"?

"hairy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,615 in our English list, against #36,592 for "hark". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hairy vs hark

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hairy”; for a verb, it's “hark”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hairy” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable