hooch

/huːt͡ʃ/

//huːt͡ʃ// noun

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

"hooch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hooch” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #48,284. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#48,284
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hooch · hooch · English

hooch · rank #48,284 · 7 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #48,284
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH Hodder

Nearest frequency peer: Hodder (-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 “hooch”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “hooch” 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).

hooch vs hook
60% similar
hooch vs hood
60% similar
hooch vs hoop
60% similar

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

Key facts for hooch
PropertyValue
Headwordhooch
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/huːt͡ʃ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#48,284
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “hooch”

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).hoochlands 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 “Hodder” (#48,283), “Hsiao” (#48,285), “hobbled” (#48,282). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hooch” is #48,284. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around hooch (IPA /huːt͡ʃ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #48,284 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hooch, with forms such as "hhooch", "hoch", and "hocoh". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "hook", "hood", "hoop", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived. From Tlingit xóots (“grizzly bear”). The correct English form is hooch, spelled H-O-O-C-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. he was so grief-stricken that he literally drowned his sorrow in “hootch-i-noo,” the native equivalent of whiskey. […] Had he not been so sad he would not have drunk the “hootch,” and if he had not drunk the hootch he would not have died: a perfectly reasonable and logical argument.
  2. Bring on the free hooch!

Etymology

Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived. From Tlingit xóots (“grizzly bear”).

This word in other languages

Fusel(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhooch
  • hoch
  • hocoh
  • hoocch
  • hoochh
  • hoohc
  • ohoch

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hhooch1hoch1hocoh2hoocch1hoochh1hoohc2ohoch2
Edit distance from "hooch"

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 "hooch"?
"hooch" is spelled H-O-O-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is /huːt͡ʃ/.
What does "hooch" mean?
As a noun, "hooch" means: An alcoholic beverage, especially an inferior or illicit one and especially liquor such as whisky.
What words are commonly confused with "hooch"?
"hooch" is commonly confused with "hook", "hood", "hoop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hooch"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hooch" is /huːt͡ʃ/. 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 "hooch"?
Abbreviation of hoochinoo, name of a specific liquor, from Tlingit Xutsnoowú Ḵwáan, the group that produced it, from Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”), the name of the village on Admiralty Island in which they lived. From Tlingit xóots (“grizzly bear”). 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 "hooch", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Hsiao#48,285INTHE#48,296Harps#48,267kooky#48,312

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Hodder7 variantsinfill7 variantskidder7 variantsleery7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list