Which to use
“hands” and “hawks” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,080
- “hands” frequency rank
- #24,995
- “hawks” frequency rank
- 60075
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hands | hawks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de hand. | Pluriel de hawk. |
Where the eye mixes hands and hawks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hands with hawks
A purely visual mix-up. hands (\ˈhændz\) and hawks (\hɔːks\) 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 60075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hands is recorded at frequency rank #35,080, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈhændz\. hawks is at rank #24,995, tagged as anoun, pronounced \hɔːks\.
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 60075, this pair ranks #99,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hands vs hawks
Shared letters: ahs. Private to "hands": dn. Private to "hawks": kw.
"hands" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "hawks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hands" for "hawks" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hands" vs "hawks" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hands" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hawks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hands" and "hawks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hands vs hind". 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 #99,590 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.