hosesvshossWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,312
“hoses” frequency rank
#46,520
“hoss” frequency rank
75832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoses hoss
Definition plural of hose Pronunciation spelling of horse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hoses and hoss apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hoses
4 ch
hoss

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hoses (/ˈhəʊzɪz/) and hoss (/hɔːs/) 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 75832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoses is recorded at frequency rank #29,312, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhəʊzɪz/. hoss is at rank #46,520, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɔːs/.

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 75832, this pair ranks #31,894 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hoses vs hoss

Shared letters: hos. Private to "hoses": e. Private to "hoss": -.

"hoses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hoss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hoseshhoses · hoess · hosess · hosses · ohses
  • hosshhoss · hsos · ohss

Frequency comparison

hoses#29,312
hoss#46,520

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hoses" and "hoss" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈhəʊzɪz/ versus /hɔːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hoses" or "hoss"?
"hoses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,312 in our English list, against #46,520 for "hoss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hoses vs hoss

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 “hoses” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list