hatervshatterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,183
“hater” frequency rank
#37,963
“hatter” frequency rank
62146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hater hatter
Definition One who hates. A person who makes, sells, or repairs hats.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hater and hatter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hater
6 ch
hatter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hater (/ˈheɪtə(ɹ)/) and hatter (/ˈhætə(ɹ)/) 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 62146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hater is recorded at frequency rank #24,183, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈheɪtə(ɹ)/. hatter is at rank #37,963, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhætə(ɹ)/.

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 62146, this pair ranks #90,148 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hater vs hatter

Shared letters: aehrt. Private to "hater": -. Private to "hatter": -.

"hater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hatter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haterahter · haetr · haterr · hatre · hhater · htaer
  • hatterahtter · hatetr · hatterr · hattre · hhatter · htater

Frequency comparison

hater#24,183
hatter#37,963

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hater" and "hatter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈheɪtə(ɹ)/ versus /ˈhætə(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hater" or "hatter"?
"hater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,183 in our English list, against #37,963 for "hatter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hater vs hatter

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 “hater” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list