Which to use
“hasty” and “hefty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,854
- “hasty” frequency rank
- #18,096
- “hefty” frequency rank
- 37950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hasty | hefty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acting or done in haste; hurried or too quick; speedy due to having little time. | With heft; heavy, strong, vigorous, mighty, impressive |
Where the eye mixes hasty and hefty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hasty with hefty
A purely visual mix-up. hasty (/ˈheɪsti/) and hefty (/ˈhɛfti/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hasty is recorded at frequency rank #19,854, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈheɪsti/. hefty is at rank #18,096, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛfti/.
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 37950, this pair ranks #290,103 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hasty vs hefty
Shared letters: hty. Private to "hasty": as. Private to "hefty": ef.
"hasty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hefty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hasty" and "hefty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hasty" or "hefty" 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 "hasty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hefty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #290,103 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hasty" and "hefty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hammy vs hasty". 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 #290,103 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.