Which to use
“hostile” is an adjective and “hosting” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,365
- “hostile” frequency rank
- #5,503
- “hosting” frequency rank
- 11868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hostile | hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not friendly; appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence or a desire to thwart and injure. | present participle and gerund of host |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hostile and hosting apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
hostile and hosting form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hostile is recorded at frequency rank #6,365, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɒstaɪl/. 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 11868, this pair ranks #484,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hostile" and "hosting" be used interchangeably?
Remembering hostile vs hosting
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hostile”; for a verb, it's “hosting”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hostile” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable