haresvshavesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,482
“hares” frequency rank
#30,822
“haves” frequency rank
68304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hares haves
Definition plural of hare The wealthy or privileged, contrasted to those who are poor or deprived: the have-nots.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hares and haves apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hares
5 ch
haves

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hares (/hɛɚz/) and haves (/hævz/) 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 a single letter - r in “hares” becomes v in “haves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hares is recorded at frequency rank #37,482, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɛɚz/. haves is at rank #30,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hævz/.

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 68304, this pair ranks #59,472 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hares vs haves

Shared letters: aehs. Private to "hares": r. Private to "haves": v.

"hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "haves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haresahres · haress · harres · harse · hhares · hraes
  • havesahves · haevs · havess · havse · havves · hhaves · hvaes

Frequency comparison

hares#37,482
haves#30,822

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hares" and "haves" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hɛɚz/ versus /hævz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hares" or "haves"?
"haves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,822 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 hares vs haves

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 “hares” 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