haw vs hew, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“haw” is an intj and “hew” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,402
“haw” frequency rank: #46,513
“hew” frequency rank: 71915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	haw	hew
Definition	An imitation of laughter, often used to express scorn or disbelief. Often doubled or tripled (haw haw or haw haw haw).	To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set haw and hew apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

haw

3 ch

hew

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: haw is /hɔː/ while hew is /hjuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “haw” becomes e in “hew”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

haw is recorded at frequency rank #25,402, classified as anintj, pronounced /hɔː/. hew is at rank #46,513, tagged as averb, pronounced /hjuː/.

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 71915, this pair ranks #44,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of haw vs hew

Shared letters: hw. Private to "haw": a. Private to "hew": e.

"haw" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hew" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

haw#25,402

hew#46,513

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "haw" and "hew" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "haw" is an intj and "hew" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "haw" or "hew"?

"haw" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,402 in our English list, against #46,513 for "hew". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering haw vs hew

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an intj, it's “haw”; for a verb, it's “hew”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “haw” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable