hare

/hɛə/

//hɛə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"hare" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hare” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #11,895) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#11,895
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hare · hare · English

hare · rank #11,895 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,895
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH greeted

Nearest frequency peer: greeted (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “hare”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “hare” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hare vs he
50% similar
hare vs HR
0% similar
hare vs has
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for hare
PropertyValue
Headwordhare
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hɛə/
Letters4
Frequency rank#11,895
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hare” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).harelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “greeted” (#11,894), “healed” (#11,896), “genetically” (#11,893). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for hare is neighbouring look-alikes ("he", "HR", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /hɛə/. Frequency #11,895 among 2,646 “H” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for hare, with forms such as "ahre", "harre", and "hhare". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "he", "HR", "has", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hasô, from *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-. Cognates See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, Norwegian … The correct English form is hare, spelled H-A-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.
  2. 2
    The meat from this animal.
  3. 3
    The player in a paperchase, or hare and hounds game, who leaves a trail of paper to be followed.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how hare appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The hare has a reputation for exciting desire. Hare soup is credited with a particular aphrodisiac value.
  2. Ashe bit absent-mindedly into a piece of hare and swore mildly when he burned his tongue.

Etymology

From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hasô, from *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-. Cognates See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, Norwegian and Swedish hare, Icelandic heri), Old English hasu, Middle High German heswe (“pale, dull”); also Welsh cannu (“to whiten”), ceinach (“hare”), Latin cānus (“white”), cascus (“old”), Old Prussian sasnis (“hare”), Pashto سوی (soe, “hare”) and Sanskrit शश (śaśa, “hare”).

This word in other languages

liebre(Español)lièvre(Français)Hase(Deutsch)lebre(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ahre
  • harre
  • hhare
  • hrae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hare - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ahre2harre1hhare1hrae2
Edit distance from "hare"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hare"?
"hare" is spelled H-A-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /hɛə/.
What does "hare" mean?
As a noun, "hare" means: Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.
What words are commonly confused with "hare"?
"hare" is commonly confused with "he", "HR", "has". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hare"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hare" is /hɛə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hare"?
From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hasô, from *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-. Cognates See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hare", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Jess#11,905knit#11,907laps#11,910dire#11,874

What to do next

You've looked up "hare". Here's where to go from here.

  • "hare" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "he". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #11,895 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list