Which to use
“hares” and “hives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,482
- “hares” frequency rank
- #24,782
- “hives” frequency rank
- 62264
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hares | hives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hare | Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions. |
Where the eye mixes hares and hives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hares with hives
A purely visual mix-up. hares (/hɛɚz/) and hives (/haɪvz/) 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 62264, 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/. hives is at rank #24,782, tagged as anoun, pronounced /haɪvz/.
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 62264, this pair ranks #89,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hares vs hives
Shared letters: ehs. Private to "hares": ar. Private to "hives": iv.
"hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hares" and "hives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hares" or "hives" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hares" and "hives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hares vs Hoare". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #89,473 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.