Which to use
“homing” and “hosting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,685
- “homing” frequency rank
- #5,503
- “hosting” frequency rank
- 35188
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | homing | hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of home | present participle and gerund of host |
Where the eye mixes homing and hosting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. homing runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against hosting's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses homing with hosting
A purely visual mix-up. homing (/ˈhoʊmɪŋ/) and hosting (/ˈhoʊstɪŋ/) 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 35188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
homing is recorded at frequency rank #29,685, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhoʊmɪŋ/. hosting is at rank #5,503, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhoʊstɪŋ/.
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 35188, this pair ranks #314,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of homing vs hosting
Shared letters: ghino. Private to "homing": m. Private to "hosting": st.
"homing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "hosting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "homing" for "hosting" ever safe?
Which is more common, "homing" or "hosting"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "homing" and "hosting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "homing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hosting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,145 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "homing" and "hosting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hing vs homing". 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 #314,145 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.