blow hot and cold
"blow-hot-and-cold" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blow hot and cold” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To behave inconsistently; to vacillate or to waver, as between extremes of opinion or emotion.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | blow hot and cold |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “blow hot and cold” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
blow hot and cold is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To behave inconsistently; to vacillate or to waver, as between extremes of opinion or emotion.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for blow hot and cold, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Aesop's fable The Satyr and the Traveller, in which a satyr declares he cannot trust a man who blows hot (to warm his hands) and cold (to cool his food) with the same breath. The correct English form is blow hot and cold, spelled B-L-O-W- -H-O-T- -A-N-D- -C-O-L-D.
Definition
- 1To behave inconsistently; to vacillate or to waver, as between extremes of opinion or emotion.
Etymology
From Aesop's fable The Satyr and the Traveller, in which a satyr declares he cannot trust a man who blows hot (to warm his hands) and cold (to cool his food) with the same breath.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “blow hot and cold”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-L-O-W- -H-O-T- -A-N-D- -C-O-L-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.