Which to use
“homely” and “hourly” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,848
- “homely” frequency rank
- #11,043
- “hourly” frequency rank
- 43891
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | homely | hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy. | Occurring every hour. |
Where the eye mixes homely and hourly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. homely (CVCVCV) and hourly (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses homely with hourly
A purely visual mix-up. homely (/ˈhəʊmli/) and hourly (/ˈaʊ̯əli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
homely is recorded at frequency rank #32,848, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhəʊmli/. hourly is at rank #11,043, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈaʊ̯əli/.
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 43891, this pair ranks #235,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of homely vs hourly
Shared letters: hloy. Private to "homely": em. Private to "hourly": ru.
"homely" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "hourly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "homely" for "hourly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "homely" or "hourly"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "homely" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hourly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "homely" and "hourly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hokey vs homely". 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 #235,694 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.