Which to use
“hark” is a verb and “harsh” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,592
- “hark” frequency rank
- #5,687
- “harsh” frequency rank
- 42279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hark | harsh |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To listen attentively. | Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses. |
Where the eye mixes hark and harsh
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hark runs 4 letters (CVCC) against harsh's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hark and harsh
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hark is /hɑː(ɹ)k/ while harsh is /hɑɹʃ/. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hark is recorded at frequency rank #36,592, classified as averb, pronounced /hɑː(ɹ)k/. harsh is at rank #5,687, tagged as anadj, pronounced /hɑɹʃ/.
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 42279, this pair ranks #250,684 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hark vs harsh
Shared letters: ahr. Private to "hark": k. Private to "harsh": s.
"hark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "harsh" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hark" and "harsh" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hark" vs "harsh" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "harsh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,684 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hark" and "harsh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hark 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 #250,684 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.