homophobia

/ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/

//ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə// noun

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

"homophobia" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“homophobia” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,580. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,580
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Hatred, fear, aversion, or prejudice towards homosexuals.

Corpus desk

Index EN-homophobia · homophobia · English

homophobia · rank #18,580 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,580
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH hinges

Nearest frequency peer: hinges (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “homophobia”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “homophobia” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

homophobia vs homophobic
90% similar
homophobia vs homophobe
80% similar

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

Key facts for homophobia
PropertyValue
Headwordhomophobia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/
Letters10
Frequency rank#18,580
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “homophobia”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).homophobialands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “hinges” (#18,579), “Houghton” (#18,581), “hindsight” (#18,578). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “homophobia” is #18,580. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around homophobia (IPA /ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,580 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for homophobia, with forms such as "hhomophobia", "hmoophobia", and "hommophobia". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "homophobic", "homophobe", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From homo- (short for and prefix of homosexual) + -phobia. Coined by American psychologist George Weinberg in 1971 in Society and the Healthy Homosexual. The correct English form is homophobia, spelled H-O-M-O-P-H-O-B-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Hatred, fear, aversion, or prejudice towards homosexuals.
  2. 2
    Hatred, fear, aversion, or prejudice towards LGBT+ persons in general.
  3. 3
    Deliberate misspelling of heterochromia.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He lost his racism when he worked with a black man in Chicago. He lost his homophobia when he was befriended and looked after by his gay neighbors, a doctor and a nurse, in Little Rock.
  2. Thinly-veiled homophobia – this time in early-2000s Hollywood – made Brokeback Mountain an immense challenge for Ossana and her fellow producer James Schamus.

Etymology

From homo- (short for and prefix of homosexual) + -phobia. Coined by American psychologist George Weinberg in 1971 in Society and the Healthy Homosexual.

This word in other languages

homofobia(Español)homophobie(Français)Homophobie(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhomophobia
  • hmoophobia
  • hommophobia
  • homohpobia
  • homophboia
  • homophhobia
  • homophobai
  • homophobbia
  • homophoiba
  • homopohbia
  • homopphobia
  • hompohobia
  • hoomphobia
  • ohmophobia

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hhomophobia1hmoophobia2hommophobia1homohpobia2homophboia2homophhobia1homophobai2homophobbia1
Edit distance from "homophobia"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "homophobia"?
"homophobia" is spelled H-O-M-O-P-H-O-B-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/.
What does "homophobia" mean?
As a noun, "homophobia" means: Hatred, fear, aversion, or prejudice towards homosexuals.
What words are commonly confused with "homophobia"?
"homophobia" is commonly confused with "homophobic", "homophobe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "homophobia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "homophobia" is /ˌhəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/. 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 "homophobia"?
From homo- (short for and prefix of homosexual) + -phobia. Coined by American psychologist George Weinberg in 1971 in Society and the Healthy Homosexual. 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 "homophobia", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Mitsubishi#18,629craigslist#18,526ornamental#18,641Chesapeake#18,516

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

infirmary14 variantsFriedrich14 variantscognition14 variantscapitalize14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list