HodgevshomageWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hodge is a name, homage is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hodge” is a name and “homage” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,383
“Hodge” frequency rank
#12,788
“homage” frequency rank
33171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hodge homage
Definition A surname originating as a patronymic. A demonstration of respect, as towards a person after his or her retirement or death.

Where the eye mixes Hodge and homage

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Hodge runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against homage's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Hodge
6 ch
homage

Visual trap between Hodge and homage

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hodge is /hɒd͡ʒ/ while homage is /ˈhɒmɪd͡ʒ/. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hodge is recorded at frequency rank #20,383, classified as aname, pronounced /hɒd͡ʒ/. homage is at rank #12,788, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒmɪd͡ʒ/.

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 33171, this pair ranks #331,701 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hodge vs homage

Shared letters: egho. Private to "Hodge": d. Private to "homage": am.

"Hodge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "homage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hodge ← hdoge · hhodge · hoddge · hodeg · hodgge · hogde · ohdge
  • homage ← hhomage · hmoage · hoamge · homaeg · homagge · homgae · hommage · ohmage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hodge" and "homage" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hodge" is a name and "homage" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Hodge" or "homage" show up more?
"homage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,788 in our English list, against #20,383 for "Hodge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hodge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "homage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #331,701 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hodge" and "homage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hodge 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 #331,701 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list