haresvsheresyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,482
“hares” frequency rank
#18,334
“heresy” frequency rank
55816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hares heresy
Definition plural of hare A doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance or conflict with established religious beliefs.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
hares
6 ch
heresy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hares (/hɛɚz/) and heresy (/ˈhɛɹəsi/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55816, 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/. heresy is at rank #18,334, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛɹəsi/.

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 55816, this pair ranks #130,743 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hares vs heresy

Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "hares": a. Private to "heresy": y.

"hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "heresy" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haresahres · haress · harres · harse · hhares · hraes
  • heresyehresy · heersy · heressy · heresyy · hereys · herresy · hersey · hheresy

Frequency comparison

hares#37,482
heresy#18,334

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hares" and "heresy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hɛɚz/ versus /ˈhɛɹəsi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hares" or "heresy"?
"heresy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,334 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 heresy

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