hobvshocWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hob is a verb, hoc is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hob” is a verb and “hoc” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,380
“hob” frequency rank
#17,937
“hoc” frequency rank
23317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hob hoc
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs heben Nominativ Singular Neutrum des Pronomens hic

Letter map: hob vs hoc

Shared letters muted; letters that set hob and hoc apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
hob
3 ch
hoc

Role in the sentence - hob and hoc

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hob is averb and hocanunknown. On the page they differ by a single letter - b in “hob” becomes c in “hoc”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hob is recorded at frequency rank #5,380, classified as averb, pronounced [hoːp]. hoc is at rank #17,937, tagged as anunknown, 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 23317, this pair ranks #1,862,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hob vs hoc

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hob": b. Private to "hoc": c.

"hob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hoc" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hob" and "hoc" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hob" is a verb and "hoc" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hob" or "hoc"?
"hob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,380 in our German list, against #17,937 for "hoc". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hob" vs "hoc" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hoc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,862,837 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hob" and "hoc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoc vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,862,837 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