haltsvsharesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“halts” and “hares” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,512
“halts” frequency rank
#37,482
“hares” frequency rank
71994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature halts hares
Definition plural of halt plural of hare

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
halts
5 ch
hares

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. halts (/hɒlts/) 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 71994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

halts is recorded at frequency rank #34,512, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɒlts/. 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 71994, this pair ranks #44,613 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of halts vs hares

Shared letters: ahs. Private to "halts": lt. Private to "hares": er.

"halts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haltsahlts · hallts · halst · haltss · haltts · hatls · hhalts · hlats
  • haresahres · haress · harres · harse · hhares · hraes

Frequency comparison

halts#34,512
hares#37,482

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "halts" and "hares" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hɒlts/ versus /hɛɚz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "halts" or "hares"?
"halts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,512 in our English list, against #37,482 for "hares". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering halts vs hares

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “halts” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list