hoevshokeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hoe” and “hoke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,954
“hoe” frequency rank
#49,982
“hoke” frequency rank
70936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoe hoke
Definition Any of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials. Alternative form of hook.

Where the eye mixes hoe and hoke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
hoe
4 ch
hoke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hoe (/həʊ/) and hoke (/hoʊk/) 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 70936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoe is recorded at frequency rank #20,954, classified as anoun, pronounced /həʊ/. hoke is at rank #49,982, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hoʊk/.

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 70936, this pair ranks #48,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hoe vs hoke

Shared letters: eho. Private to "hoe": -. Private to "hoke": k.

"hoe" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hoke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hokehhoke · hkoe · hoek · hokke · ohke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hoe" and "hoke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/həʊ/ versus /hoʊk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hoe" or "hoke"?
"hoe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,954 in our English list, against #49,982 for "hoke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list