haresvsHermesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hares is a noun, Hermes is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hares” is a noun and “Hermes” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,482
“hares” frequency rank
#19,857
“Hermes” frequency rank
57339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hares Hermes
Definition plural of hare The herald and messenger of the gods, and the god of roads, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
hares
6 ch
Hermes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hares is /hɛɚz/ while Hermes is /ˈhɝmiːz/. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57339, 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/. Hermes is at rank #19,857, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈhɝmiːz/.

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 57339, this pair ranks #120,005 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hares vs Hermes

Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "hares": a. Private to "Hermes": m.

"hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Hermes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haresahres · haress · harres · harse · hhares · hraes
  • Hermesehrmes · hemres · herems · hermess · hermmes · hermse · herrmes · hhermes

Frequency comparison

hares#37,482
Hermes#19,857

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hares" and "Hermes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hares" is a noun and "Hermes" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hares" or "Hermes"?
"Hermes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,857 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 Hermes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “hares”; for a name, it's “Hermes”.
  • 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