Which to use
“homage” and “hostage” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,788
- “homage” frequency rank
- #8,301
- “hostage” frequency rank
- 21089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | homage | hostage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A demonstration of respect, as towards a person after his or her retirement or death. | A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal. |
Where the eye mixes homage and hostage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. homage runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against hostage's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between homage and hostage
A purely visual mix-up. homage (/ˈhɒmɪd͡ʒ/) and hostage (/ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/) 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 21089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
homage is recorded at frequency rank #12,788, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒmɪd͡ʒ/. hostage is at rank #8,301, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/.
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 21089, this pair ranks #426,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of homage vs hostage
Shared letters: aegho. Private to "homage": m. Private to "hostage": st.
"homage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "hostage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "homage" and "hostage" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "homage" vs "hostage" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "homage" and "hostage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "homage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hostage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "homage" and "hostage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hoare vs homage". 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 #426,473 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.