hares vs hoses, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,482
“hares” frequency rank: #29,312
“hoses” frequency rank: 66794
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hares	hoses
Definition	plural of hare	plural of hose

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

hares

5 ch

hoses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hares (/hɛɚz/) and hoses (/ˈhəʊzɪz/) 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 66794, 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/. hoses is at rank #29,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhəʊzɪz/.

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 66794, this pair ranks #66,343 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hares vs hoses

Shared letters: ehs. Private to "hares": ar. Private to "hoses": o.

"hares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hoses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

hares ← ahres · haress · harres · harse · hhares · hraes
hoses ← hhoses · hoess · hosess · hosses · ohses

Frequency comparison

hares#37,482

hoses#29,312

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hares" and "hoses" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/hɛɚz/ versus /ˈhəʊzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "hares" or "hoses"?

"hoses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,312 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 hoses

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