Which to use
“hates” and “haye” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,601
- “hates” frequency rank
- #44,832
- “haye” frequency rank
- 50433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hates | haye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hate | A shark (scaleless cartilaginous fish). |
Where the eye mixes hates and haye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hates with haye
A purely visual mix-up. hates (/heɪts/) and haye (/heɪ/) 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 50433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hates is recorded at frequency rank #5,601, classified as anoun, pronounced /heɪts/. haye is at rank #44,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced /heɪ/.
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 50433, this pair ranks #174,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hates vs haye
Shared letters: aeh. Private to "hates": st. Private to "haye": y.
"hates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "haye" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hates" for "haye" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hates" vs "haye" - which ranks higher?
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 "hates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "haye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hates" and "haye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haye vs hoke". 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 #174,299 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.