harevshawkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hare” and “hawk” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,876
“hare” frequency rank
#28,588
“hawk” frequency rank
65464
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hare hawk
Definition Variante de hart. Rapace de la famille des accipitridés, et notamment les éperviers et les vautours.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hare and hawk apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hare
4 ch
hawk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hare (\aʁ\) and hawk (\hɔːk\) 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 65464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hare is recorded at frequency rank #36,876, classified as anoun, pronounced \aʁ\. hawk is at rank #28,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced \hɔːk\.

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 65464, this pair ranks #72,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hare vs hawk

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hare": er. Private to "hawk": kw.

"hare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hawk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hareahre · haer · harre · hhare · hrae
  • hawkahwk · hakw · hawkk · hawwk · hhawk · hwak

Frequency comparison

hare#36,876
hawk#28,588

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hare" and "hawk" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\aʁ\ versus \hɔːk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hare" or "hawk"?
"hawk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,588 in our French list, against #36,876 for "hare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hare vs hawk

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hare” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list