harevsheartWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,876
“hare” frequency rank
#15,642
“heart” frequency rank
52518
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hare heart
Definition Variante de hart. Cœur, organe vital.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hare and heart apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hare
5 ch
heart

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hare (\aʁ\) and heart ([hɑːt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52518, 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\. heart is at rank #15,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɑːt].

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 52518, this pair ranks #147,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hare vs heart

Shared letters: aehr. Private to "hare": -. Private to "heart": t.

"hare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "heart" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hareahre · haer · harre · hhare · hrae
  • heartehart · haert · hearrt · heartt · heatr · herat · hheart

Frequency comparison

hare#36,876
heart#15,642

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hare" and "heart" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\aʁ\ versus [hɑːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hare" or "heart"?
"heart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,642 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 heart

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