Which to use
“hist” is an intj and “hoist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,524
- “hist” frequency rank
- #24,784
- “hoist” frequency rank
- 59308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hist | hoist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An utterance used to discreetly attract someone's attention. | To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight). |
Where the eye mixes hist and hoist
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hist runs 4 letters (CVCC) against hoist's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hist and hoist
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hist is /hɪst/ while hoist is /hɔɪst/. 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 (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hist is recorded at frequency rank #34,524, classified as anintj, pronounced /hɪst/. hoist is at rank #24,784, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɔɪst/.
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 59308, this pair ranks #107,064 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hist vs hoist
Shared letters: hist. Private to "hist": -. Private to "hoist": o.
"hist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hoist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hist" for "hoist" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hist" or "hoist" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hist" and "hoist" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hoist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,064 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hist" and "hoist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hist". 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 #107,064 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.