hark vs hearn, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#36,592
“hark” frequency rank: #34,519
“hearn” frequency rank: 71111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hark	hearn
Definition	To listen attentively.	past participle of hear

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

hark

5 ch

hearn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hark (/hɑː(ɹ)k/) and hearn (/ˈhɪən/) 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 71111, 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/. hearn is at rank #34,519, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhɪən/.

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 71111, this pair ranks #47,941 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hark vs hearn

Shared letters: ahr. Private to "hark": k. Private to "hearn": en.

"hark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hearn" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

hark ← ahrk · hakr · harkk · harrk · hhark · hrak
hearn ← eharn · haern · heanr · hearnn · hearrn · heran · hhearn

Frequency comparison

hark#36,592

hearn#34,519

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hark" and "hearn" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "hark" or "hearn"?

"hearn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,519 in our English list, against #36,592 for "hark". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hark vs hearn

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 “hark” entry
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