Which to use
“haste” and “hate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,853
- “haste” frequency rank
- #807
- “hate” frequency rank
- 18660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haste | hate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Speed; swiftness; dispatch. | An object of hatred. |
Where the eye mixes haste and hate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between haste and hate
A purely visual mix-up. haste (/heɪst/) and hate (/heʔ/) 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 18660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haste is recorded at frequency rank #17,853, classified as anoun, pronounced /heɪst/. hate is at rank #807, tagged as anoun, pronounced /heʔ/.
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 18660, this pair ranks #443,379 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of haste vs hate
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "haste": s. Private to "hate": -.
"haste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "haste" and "hate" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "haste" vs "hate" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "haste" and "hate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "haste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #443,379 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haste" and "hate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hasta vs haste". 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 #443,379 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.