Which to use
“hours” and “house” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #388
- “hours” frequency rank
- #186
- “house” frequency rank
- 574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hours | house |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hour | A structure built or serving as an abode of human beings. |
Where the eye mixes hours and house
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. hours (/ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/) and house (/haʊs/) 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 574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hours is recorded at frequency rank #388, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/. house is at rank #186, tagged as anoun, pronounced /haʊs/.
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 574, this pair ranks #529,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hours vs house
Shared letters: hosu. Private to "hours": r. Private to "house": e.
"hours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "house" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV