honvsHoseConfusable pair

Quick tell: hon is a verb, Hose is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hon” is a verb and “Hose” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,001
“hon” frequency rank
#2,968
“Hose” frequency rank
42969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hon Hose
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs honen Kleidungsstück, das den Körper unterhalb der Taille (bis zu den Füßen) bedeckt und dabei jedes Bein einzeln umschließt. Der Plural ist auch für den Singular gebräuchlich, da eine Hose aus zwei Schläuchen (Hosen) besteht (vergleiche die Herkunft).

Where the eye mixes hon and Hose

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

3 ch
hon
4 ch
Hose

Visual trap between hon and Hose

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hon is [hoːn] while Hose is [ˈhoːzə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hon is recorded at frequency rank #40,001, classified as averb, pronounced [hoːn]. Hose is at rank #2,968, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhoːzə].

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 42969, this pair ranks #1,432,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hon vs Hose

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hon": n. Private to "Hose": es.

"hon" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Hose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hosehhose · hoes · hosse · hsoe · ohse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hon" and "Hose" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hon" is a verb and "Hose" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hon" or "Hose" show up more?
"Hose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,968 in our German list, against #40,001 for "hon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,432,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hon" and "Hose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs hon". 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 #1,432,709 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