Which to use
“hobbit” and “hobby” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,383
- “hobbit” frequency rank
- #7,800
- “hobby” frequency rank
- 25183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hobbit | hobby |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A member of a fictional race of small humanoids with shaggy hair and hairy feet. | An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time. |
Where the eye mixes hobbit and hobby
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hobbit runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hobby's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hobbit and hobby
A purely visual mix-up. hobbit (/ˈhɒbɪt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hobbit is recorded at frequency rank #17,383, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒbɪt/. 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 25183, this pair ranks #396,282 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hobbit vs hobby
Shared letters: bho. Private to "hobbit": it. Private to "hobby": y.
"hobbit" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hobby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hobbit" for "hobby" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hobbit" or "hobby"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hobbit" and "hobby" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hobbit" 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 #396,282 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hobbit" and "hobby" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hobbit vs hobbyist". 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 #396,282 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.