home

/həʊm/

//həʊm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"home" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“home” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #149) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#149
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A dwelling.

Corpus desk

Index EN-home · home · English

home · rank #149 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #149
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH man

Nearest frequency peer: man (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “home”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “home” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

home vs how
50% similar
home vs hot
50% similar
home vs hop
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for home
PropertyValue
Headwordhome
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/həʊm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#149
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “home” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). home lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for home is neighbouring look-alikes ("how", "hot", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /həʊm/. Frequency #149 among 2,646 “H” headwords. 15 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for home, with forms such as "hhome", "hmoe", and "hoem". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "how", "hot", "hop", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home… The correct English form is home, spelled H-O-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A dwelling.
  2. 2
    A dwelling.
  3. 3
    A dwelling.
  4. 4
    A dwelling.
  5. 5
    A dwelling.
  6. 6
    A dwelling.
  7. 7
    A dwelling.
  8. 8
    One’s native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one’s ancestors dwell or dwelt.
  9. 9
    The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat.
  10. 10
    A focus point.
  11. 11
    A focus point.
  12. 12
    A focus point.
  13. 13
    A focus point.
  14. 14
    A focus point.
  15. 15
    Clipping of home directory.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how home appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And the diſciples went awaye agayne vnto their awne home.
  2. Thither for ease and soft repose we come: / Home is the sacred refuge of our life; / Secured from all approaches, but a wife.

Etymology

From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots hame (“home”), Yola haime, hime, hyme (“home”), Saterland Frisian Heem (“home”), Alemannic German haim, hei, heim, hemmu (“home”), Bavarian hama, hame (“home”), Cimbrian hòam, huam (“home”), Dutch heem, heim (“home”), German Heim (“home”), Limburgish heim, Héïm (“home”), Luxembourgish Heem (“home”), Mòcheno hoa'm (“home”), Vilamovian ham, hām, haom (“home”), Yiddish היים (heym, “home”), Danish hjem (“home”), Faroese, Icelandic heim (“home”), heimur (“world”), Norwegian Bokmål heim, hjem (“home”), Norwegian Nynorsk heim (“home”), Swedish hem (“home”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims, “village”), Irish caoimh (“dear”), Lithuanian kaimas (“village”), šeima (“family”), Albanian komb (“nation, people”), Old Church Slavonic сѣмь (sěmĭ, “seed”), Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē, “village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (kittari, “it lies”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), Latin civis (“citizen”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬈 (saēte, “he lies, rests”), Sanskrit शये (śáye, “he lies”)).

Synonyms

tenementhousedwellingabodedomicileresidencehome base

This word in other languages

hogar(Español)foyer(Français)Heim(Deutsch)lar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhome
  • hmoe
  • hoem
  • ohme

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of home - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hhome1hmoe2hoem2ohme2
Edit distance from "home"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "home"?
"home" is spelled H-O-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is /həʊm/.
What does "home" mean?
As a noun, "home" means: A dwelling.
What words are commonly confused with "home"?
"home" is commonly confused with "how", "hot", "hop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "home"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "home" is /həʊm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "home"?
From Middle English hōm, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, village”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), from the root *tḱey-. Doublet of heyem. Cognates Cognate with Scots h... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "home", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

long#150look#151love#147such#146
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list