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 eye mixes hostile and hosting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hostile with hosting
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hostile is /ˈhɒstaɪl/ while hosting is /ˈhoʊstɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. 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.
Orthographic DNA of hostile vs hosting
Shared letters: hiost. Private to "hostile": el. Private to "hosting": gn.
"hostile" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "hosting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hostile" and "hosting" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hostile" vs "hosting" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hostile" and "hosting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hostile" 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 #484,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hostile" and "hosting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoisting vs hosting". 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 #484,694 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.