hoax

[həʊks]

/[həʊks]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“hoax” is uncommon German (frequency #56,222 among 3,372 “H” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,222
frequency rank, German
3,372
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - jemanden etwas glauben lassen, das falsch (und sogar unsinnig) ist; foppen, hintergehen

Corpus desk

Index DE-hoax · hoax · German

hoax · rank #56,222 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,222
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,372
  • PHOTO-FINISH hinzulegen

Nearest frequency peer: hinzulegen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „hoax“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „hoax“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for hoax
PropertyValue
Headwordhoax
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[həʊks]
Letters4
Frequency rank#56,222
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „hoax“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.hoaxfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „hinzulegen“ (#56,221), „Humanmedizin“ (#56,223), „hinterrücks“ (#56,220). Unter 3,372 „H“-Lemmata liegt „hoax“ bei #56,222. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hoax is uncommon German at frequency #56,222 among 3,372 “H” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [həʊks]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "jemanden etwas glauben lassen, das falsch (und sogar unsinnig) ist; foppen, hintergehen".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for hoax, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is hoax, spelled H-O-A-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    jemanden etwas glauben lassen, das falsch (und sogar unsinnig) ist; foppen, hintergehen

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hoax appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I was hoaxed by a man who claimed to be a doctor.

Synonyms

fooltrick

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hoax"?
"hoax" is spelled H-O-A-X. The IPA pronunciation is [həʊks].
What does "hoax" mean?
As a verb, "hoax" means: jemanden etwas glauben lassen, das falsch (und sogar unsinnig) ist; foppen, hintergehen
How do you pronounce "hoax"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hoax" is [həʊks]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hoax" come from?
"hoax" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hoax", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hari#56,200gähn#56,191kuka#56,291Lodz#56,316

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list