Which to use
“hob” and “hobby” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,889
- “hob” frequency rank
- #7,800
- “hobby” frequency rank
- 46689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hob | hobby |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A kind of cutting tool, used to cut the teeth of a gear. | An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time. |
Where the eye mixes hob and hobby
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hob runs 3 letters (CVC) against hobby's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hob with hobby
A purely visual mix-up. hob (/hɑb/) and hobby (/ˈhɒ.bi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “hob” sits inside “hobby”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hob is recorded at frequency rank #38,889, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɑb/. hobby is at rank #7,800, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒ.bi/.
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 46689, this pair ranks #209,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hob vs hobby
Shared letters: bho. Private to "hob": -. Private to "hobby": y.
"hob" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hobby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hobby ← hboby · hhobby · hobbyy · hoby · hobyb · ohbby
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hob" and "hobby" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hob" or "hobby"?
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 "hob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hobby" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hob" and "hobby" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hob vs hoke". 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 #209,376 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.