hokeyvshoyerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hokey is a adjective, hoyer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hokey” is an adjective and “hoyer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,980
“hokey” frequency rank
#37,498
“hoyer” frequency rank
83478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hokey hoyer
Definition Phony, as if a hoax; noticeably contrived; of obviously flimsy credibility or quality. A device for transferring a person with serious mobility issues to and from the floor, a mobility device (such as a wheelchair), seating, and a bed.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hokey and hoyer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hokey
5 ch
hoyer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hokey is anadjective and hoyeranoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hokey is recorded at frequency rank #45,980, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhəʊki/. hoyer is at rank #37,498, tagged as anoun.

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 83478, this pair ranks #13,752 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hokey vs hoyer

Shared letters: ehoy. Private to "hokey": k. Private to "hoyer": r.

"hokey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "hoyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hokeyhhokey · hkoey · hoeky · hokeyy · hokkey · hokye · ohkey
  • hoyerhhoyer · hoeyr · hoyerr · hoyre · hoyyer · hyoer · ohyer

Frequency comparison

hokey#45,980
hoyer#37,498

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hokey" and "hoyer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hokey" is an adjective and "hoyer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hokey" or "hoyer"?
"hoyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,498 in our English list, against #45,980 for "hokey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hokey vs hoyer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hokey”; for a noun, it's “hoyer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hokey” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list