# hobo vs Howe

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### hobo
*noun · IPA /ˈhəʊ.bəʊ/ · frequency rank #26,114*
A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.

### Howe
*name · IPA /haʊ/ · frequency rank #14,563*
An English topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived by a small hill.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hobo-vs-howe