Which to use
“hasta” is a verb and “haste” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,380
- “hasta” frequency rank
- #17,853
- “haste” frequency rank
- 67233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hasta | haste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of hafta: Contraction of has to (“is required to”). | Speed; swiftness; dispatch. |
Where the eye mixes hasta and haste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hasta and haste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: hasta vs haste
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hasta is /ˈhæstə/ while haste is /heɪst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “hasta” becomes e in “haste”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hasta is recorded at frequency rank #49,380, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhæstə/. haste is at rank #17,853, tagged as anoun, pronounced /heɪst/.
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 67233, this pair ranks #64,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hasta vs haste
Shared letters: ahst. Private to "hasta": -. Private to "haste": e.
"hasta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "haste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hasta" for "haste" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hasta" or "haste" 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 "hasta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "haste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hasta" and "haste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hasta vs Hosea". 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 #64,306 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.