hum and haw
/ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/
"hum-and-haw" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hum and haw” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hum and haw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hum and haw” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hum and haw is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision.".
Zero misspellings are on record for hum and haw in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is hum and haw, spelled H-U-M- -A-N-D- -H-A-W.
Definition
- 1To procrastinate; to take a long time before doing something or taking a decision.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “hum and haw”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-U-M- -A-N-D- -H-A-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhʌm ənd ˈhɔː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.