hobvshotConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#5,380
“hob” frequency rank
#5,185
“hot” frequency rank
10565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hob hot
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs heben von sehr hoher Temperatur, heiß

Where the eye mixes hob and hot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
hob
3 ch
hot

Visual trap between hob and hot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hob is [hoːp] while hot is [hɒt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “hob” becomes t in “hot”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10565, 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]. hot is at rank #5,185, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hɒt].

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 10565, this pair ranks #1,974,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hob vs hot

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hob": b. Private to "hot": t.

"hob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hob" and "hot" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hob" is a verb and "hot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hob" or "hot"?
"hot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,185 in our German list, against #5,380 for "hob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "hob" and "hot" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,974,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hob" and "hot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hob vs höh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,974,516 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