Which to use
“hoarse” is an adjective and “hours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,691
- “hoarse” frequency rank
- #388
- “hours” frequency rank
- 44079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hoarse | hours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a dry, harsh tone to the voice, as a result of a sore throat, age, emotion, etc. | plural of hour |
Where the eye mixes hoarse and hours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hoarse with hours
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hoarse is /hɔːs/ while hours is /ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hoarse is recorded at frequency rank #43,691, classified as anadj, pronounced /hɔːs/. hours is at rank #388, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/.
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 44079, this pair ranks #233,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hoarse vs hours
Shared letters: hors. Private to "hoarse": ae. Private to "hours": u.
"hoarse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "hours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hoarse" and "hours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hoarse" or "hours" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hoarse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hoarse" and "hours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hoare vs hoarse". 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 #233,907 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.