Which to use
“hawk” and “haze” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,477
- “hawk” frequency rank
- #16,723
- “haze” frequency rank
- 26200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hawk | haze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle. | Very fine solid particles (smoke, dust) or liquid droplets (moisture) suspended in the air, slightly limiting visibility. (Compare fog, mist.) |
Where the eye mixes hawk and haze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hawk and haze
A purely visual mix-up. hawk (/ˈhɔːk/) and haze (/heɪz/) 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 26200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hawk is recorded at frequency rank #9,477, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɔːk/. haze is at rank #16,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced /heɪz/.
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 26200, this pair ranks #388,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hawk vs haze
Shared letters: ah. Private to "hawk": kw. Private to "haze": ez.
"hawk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "haze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hawk" for "haze" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hawk" vs "haze" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hawk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "haze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hawk" and "haze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze 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 #388,466 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.