housedvshushedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,394
“housed” frequency rank
#31,607
“hushed” frequency rank
43001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature housed hushed
Definition Enclosed, provided or covered with a house. Very quiet; expressed using soft tones.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set housed and hushed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
housed
6 ch
hushed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. housed (/haʊzd/) and hushed (/hʌʃt/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

housed is recorded at frequency rank #11,394, classified as anadj, pronounced /haʊzd/. hushed is at rank #31,607, tagged as anadj, pronounced /hʌʃt/.

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 43001, this pair ranks #244,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of housed vs hushed

Shared letters: dehsu. Private to "housed": o. Private to "hushed": -.

"housed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "hushed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • housedhhoused · hosued · houesd · housde · housedd · houssed · huosed · ohused
  • hushedhhushed · hsuhed · huhsed · husehd · hushde · hushedd · hushhed · husshed

Frequency comparison

housed#11,394
hushed#31,607

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "housed" and "hushed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/haʊzd/ versus /hʌʃt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "housed" or "hushed"?
"housed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,394 in our English list, against #31,607 for "hushed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering housed vs hushed

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 “housed” 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