Which to use
“hockey” is a noun and “hokey” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,497
- “hockey” frequency rank
- #45,980
- “hokey” frequency rank
- 49477
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hockey | hokey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to move a ball or puck into a goal. | Phony, as if a hoax; noticeably contrived; of obviously flimsy credibility or quality. |
Where the eye mixes hockey and hokey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hockey runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against hokey's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hockey and hokey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hockey is /ˈhɒ.ki/ while hokey is /ˈhəʊki/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hockey is recorded at frequency rank #3,497, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒ.ki/. hokey is at rank #45,980, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhəʊki/.
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 49477, this pair ranks #183,210 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hockey vs hokey
Shared letters: ehkoy. Private to "hockey": c. Private to "hokey": -.
"hockey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "hokey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hockey" and "hokey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hockey" or "hokey"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hockey" and "hokey" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hockey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hokey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,210 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hockey" and "hokey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs hokey". 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 #183,210 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.