Homogeneous or homogenous?
homogeneous is an adjective meaning “Of the same kind; alike, similar”; homogenous is an adjective meaning “Having the same genetic structure; exhibiting homogeny”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) homogeneous is about 2.5 times as common as homogenous.
What is the difference between homogeneous and homogenous?
| homogeneous | homogenous | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | Of the same kind; alike, similar Having the same composition throughout; of uniform make-up | Having the same genetic structure; exhibiting homogeny |
| Example | The polynomial x²+5xy+y² is homogeneous of degree 2, because x², xy, and y² are all degree 2 monomials | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˌhɒm.ə(ʊ)ˈd͡ʒiː.nɪəs/ /ˌhəʊ.mə(ʊ)ˈd͡ʒiː.nɪəs/ /ˌhoʊ.moʊˈd͡ʒi.ni.əs/ | /həˈmɒd͡ʒɪnəs/ /həˈmɑd͡ʒɪnəs/ |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: homogeneous and homogenous in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of homogeneous and homogenous
homogeneous
- 1
Of the same kind; alike, similar
- 2
Having the same composition throughout; of uniform make-up
- 3
In the same state of matter
- 4
In any of several technical senses uniform; scalable; having its behavior or form determined by, or the same as, its behavior on or form at a smaller component (of its domain of definition, of…
- 5
Such that all its nonzero terms have the same degree
The polynomial x²+5xy+y² is homogeneous of degree 2, because x², xy, and y² are all degree 2 monomials
- 6
Such that all the constant terms are zero
- 7
Such that if each of f 's inputs are multiplied by the same scalar, f 's output is multiplied by the same scalar to some fixed power (called the degree of homogeneity or degree of f). (Formally and…
- 8
The function f(x,y)#61;x²#43;x²ʸ#43;y² is not homogeneous on all of #92;mathbb#123;R#125;² because f(2,2)#61;16#92;neq 2ᵏ#42;3#61;2ᵏf(1,1) for any k, but f is homogeneous on the subspace of…
homogenous
- 1
Having the same genetic structure; exhibiting homogeny
- 2
Alternative form of homogeneous (“having the same composition”)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, homogeneous or homogenous?
homogeneous appears 1.7 times per million words; homogenous about once in every 1 million words.
homogeneous 1.7 times per million wordshomogenous about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search homogeneous vs homogenous?
“homogeneous vs homogenous” is searched about 880 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“homogenous vs homogeneous”, “homogeneous or homogenous”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.