hoods vs hoses, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hoods” and “hoses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,413
“hoods” frequency rank: #29,312
“hoses” frequency rank: 54725
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hoods	hoses
Definition	plural of hood	plural of hose

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

hoods

5 ch

hoses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hoods (/hʊdz/) and hoses (/ˈhəʊzɪz/) 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 54725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoods is recorded at frequency rank #25,413, classified as anoun, pronounced /hʊdz/. hoses is at rank #29,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhəʊzɪz/.

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 54725, this pair ranks #138,885 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hoods vs hoses

Shared letters: hos. Private to "hoods": d. Private to "hoses": e.

"hoods" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "hoses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

hoods ← hhoods · hodos · hods · hoodds · hoodss · hoosd · ohods
hoses ← hhoses · hoess · hosess · hosses · ohses

Frequency comparison

hoods#25,413

hoses#29,312

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hoods" and "hoses" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/hʊdz/ versus /ˈhəʊzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "hoods" or "hoses"?

"hoods" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,413 in our English list, against #29,312 for "hoses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hoods vs hoses

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hoods” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable