# hockey

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhɒ.ki/ · frequency rank #3,497

## Definitions
1. Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to move a ball or puck into a goal.
2. Field hockey, a team sport played on a pitch on solid ground where players have to hit a ball into a net using a hockey stick.
3. Ice hockey, a game on ice in which two teams of six players skate and try to score by shooting a puck into the opposing team's net, using their sticks.

## Etymology
16th century, of unknown origin. Possibly related to hook due to the curvature of the stick, akin to hock (“hook”) + -ey, or from Middle French hoquet (“shepherd's staff, crook”), which resembles a hockey stick, via a diminutive form of Old French hoc from Middle Dutch hoec (“hook”), a cognate of Old English hōc.

## Easily confused with
- **hoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-hoke)
- **honey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-honey)
- **honky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-honky)
- **homey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-homey)
- **hokey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-hokey)
- **hooked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-hooked)
- **hooker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-hooker)
- **Holley** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hockey-vs-holley)
- **hock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hock-vs-hockey)
- **hacked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hacked-vs-hockey)
- **hacker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hacker-vs-hockey)
- **hickey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hickey-vs-hockey)
- **Hackney** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hackney-vs-hockey)

## Common misspellings (9)
`hcokey`, `hhockey`, `hocckey`, `hoceky`, `hockeyy`, `hockkey`, `hockye`, `hokcey`, `ohckey`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hockey