hitsvshostsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“hits” and “hosts” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,337
“hits” frequency rank
#43,973
“hosts” frequency rank
51310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hits hosts
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hit 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs host

Letter map: hits vs hosts

Shared letters muted; letters that set hits and hosts apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
hits
5 ch
hosts

Corpus notes: hits and hosts

hits and hosts are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hits is recorded at frequency rank #7,337, classified as averb, pronounced […]. hosts is at rank #43,973, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 51310, this pair ranks #1,140,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hits vs hosts

Shared letters: hst. Private to "hits": i. Private to "hosts": o.

"hits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hosts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hitshhits · hist · hitss · hitts · ihts
  • hostshhosts · hossts · hostss · hostts · hotss · hsots · ohsts

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hits" and "hosts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "hits" vs "hosts" - which ranks higher?
"hits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,337 in our German list, against #43,973 for "hosts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hits" vs "hosts" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hosts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,140,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hits" and "hosts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hosts vs puzzles". 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 #1,140,351 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list