Which to use
“harsh” and “hoarse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,687
- “harsh” frequency rank
- #43,691
- “hoarse” frequency rank
- 49378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | harsh | hoarse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses. | Having a dry, harsh tone to the voice, as a result of a sore throat, age, emotion, etc. |
Where the eye mixes harsh and hoarse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. harsh runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against hoarse's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: harsh vs hoarse
A purely visual mix-up. harsh (/hɑɹʃ/) and hoarse (/hɔːs/) 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 49378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
harsh is recorded at frequency rank #5,687, classified as anadj, pronounced /hɑɹʃ/. hoarse is at rank #43,691, tagged as anadj, pronounced /hɔːs/.
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 49378, this pair ranks #184,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of harsh vs hoarse
Shared letters: ahrs. Private to "harsh": -. Private to "hoarse": eo.
"harsh" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "hoarse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "harsh" for "hoarse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "harsh" vs "hoarse" - 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 "harsh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hoarse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "harsh" and "hoarse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hoare vs hoarse". 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 #184,202 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.