# hocus vs hows

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### hocus
*verb · IPA /ˈhəʊkəs/ · frequency rank #48,804*
To play a trick on, to trick (someone); to hoax; to cheat.

### hows
*noun · IPA /haʊz/ · frequency rank #38,890*
plural of how

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