Hawk or hock?
hawk is a noun meaning “A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle”; hock is a noun meaning “A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) hawk is about 9.3 times as common as hock.
What is the difference between hawk and hock?
| hawk | hock | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon To hunt with a hawk | A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog Meat from that part of a food animal |
| Example | It is illegal to hunt hawks or other raptors in many parts of the world | Anyway, you only have one golden retriever, SWORDDOG, and she is already armed to the hocks |
| Forms | hawks | hocks |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɔːk/ /ˈhoːk/ /ˈhɔk/ | /hɒk/ /hɑk/ |
| In writing | 6.5 times per million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: hawk and hock in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hawk and hock
hawk
- 1
A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle
It is illegal to hunt hawks or other raptors in many parts of the world
- 2
To hunt with a hawk
- 3
A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard
- 4
To sell; to offer for sale by outcry in the street; to carry (merchandise) about from place to place for sale; to peddle
The vendors were hawking their wares from little tables lining either side of the market square
- 5
A noisy effort to force up phlegm from the throat
- 6
To expectorate, to cough up (something, such as mucus) from one's throat; to produce (something) by coughing or clearing one's throat
to hawk a loogie
- 7
Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon
- 8
To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk
to hawk at flies
hock
- 1
A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines
- 2
The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog
Anyway, you only have one golden retriever, SWORDDOG, and she is already armed to the hocks
- 3
To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough
- 4
colloquialTo leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan
- 5
informalPawn, obligation as collateral for a loan
He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop
- 6
USinformalTo bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly
- 7
informalAlternative form of hawk (“cough, clear one's throat of phlegm”)
- 8
informalAlternative form of hawk (“cough”)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hawk or hock?
hawk appears 6.5 times per million words; hock about once in every 1 million words.
hawk 6.5 times per million wordshock about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search hawk vs hock?
“hawk vs hock” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“hock vs hawk”, “hawk or hock”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.