hotvshyeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#711
“hot” frequency rank
#21,825
“hye” frequency rank
22536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hot hye
Definition Relating to heat and conditions which produce it. Obsolete spelling of high.

Letter map: hot vs hye

Shared letters muted; letters that set hot and hye apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
hot
3 ch
hye

Corpus notes: hot and hye

hot and hye are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hot is recorded at frequency rank #711, classified as anadj, pronounced /hɒt/. hye is at rank #21,825, tagged as anadj.

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 22536, this pair ranks #415,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hot vs hye

Shared letters: h. Private to "hot": ot. Private to "hye": ey.

"hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hye" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hot" for "hye" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "hot" or "hye" show up more?
"hot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #711 in our English list, against #21,825 for "hye". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "hot" and "hye". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #415,845 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hot" and "hye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs hye". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #415,845 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list