Which to use
“hair” is a noun and “hale” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,078
- “hair” frequency rank
- #28,395
- “hale” frequency rank
- 64473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hair | hale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pelo, cabello, vello. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de halar. |
Where the eye mixes hair and hale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hair (CVVC) and hale (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: hair vs hale
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hair is /hɛə/ while hale is [ˈale]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hair is recorded at frequency rank #36,078, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɛə/. hale is at rank #28,395, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈale].
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 64473, this pair ranks #45,481 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hair vs hale
Shared letters: ah. Private to "hair": ir. Private to "hale": el.
"hair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hair" for "hale" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hair" or "hale"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hair" and "hale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,481 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hair" and "hale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hahn vs hair". 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 #45,481 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.