hood

/hʊd/

//hʊd// noun

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

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

The verdict

“hood” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,051) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,051
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hood · hood · English

hood · rank #5,051 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,051
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH holder

Nearest frequency peer: holder (-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 neighbours of confusable “hood”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “hood” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

hood vs how
50% similar
hood vs hot
50% similar
hood vs hop
50% similar

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

Key facts for hood
PropertyValue
Headwordhood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hʊd/
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,051
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “hood”

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).hoodlands 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 “holder” (#5,050), “hung” (#5,052), “highlight” (#5,049). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “hood” is #5,051. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for hood is neighbouring look-alikes ("how", "hot", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /hʊd/. Frequency #5,051 among 2,646 “H” headwords. 13 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for hood, with forms such as "hhood", "hodo", and "hoodd". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "how", "hot", "hop", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch hoed (“hat”… The correct English form is hood, spelled H-O-O-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
  2. 2
    A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
  3. 3
    A distinctively colored fold of material, representing a university degree.
  4. 4
    An enclosure that protects something, especially from above.
  5. 5
    Particular parts of conveyances
  6. 6
    Particular parts of conveyances
  7. 7
    Particular parts of conveyances
  8. 8
    Particular parts of conveyances
  9. 9
    Particular parts of conveyances
  10. 10
    Various body parts
  11. 11
    Various body parts
  12. 12
    Various body parts
  13. 13
    Various body parts

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Like many captains, I was just as glad to leave engineering to the engineers. Looking under the ship's hood wasn't what interested me.
  2. I never see the pilot percolating coffee or the attendant with a screwdriver under the airplane's hood. Why? Because we all have something we are good at, and we are expected to do that one thing well.

Etymology

From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch hoed (“hat”), Cimbrian huat, huut (“hat”), German Hut (“hat”), German Low German Hood (“hat; hood”), Luxembourgish Hutt (“hat”); also Proto-Iranian *xawdaH (“hat”) (Avestan 𐬑𐬂𐬛𐬀 (xåda), Old Persian 𐎧𐎢𐎭 (x-u-d /⁠xaudā⁠/)). More at hat.

This word in other languages

capirote(Español)capuche(Français)Kapuze(Deutsch)capô(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhood
  • hodo
  • hoodd
  • ohod

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hood - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

hhood1hodo2hoodd1ohod2
Edit distance from "hood"

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 "hood"?
"hood" is spelled H-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /hʊd/.
What does "hood" mean?
As a noun, "hood" means: A covering for the head, usually attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
What words are commonly confused with "hood"?
"hood" 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 "hood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hood" is /hʊd/. 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 "hood"?
From Middle English hood, hod, from Old English hōd, from Proto-West Germanic *hōd, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to cover”). See also Saterland Frisian Houd (“hat; hood”), West Frisian/Dutch 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 "hood", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

hung#5,052Jose#5,056Fred#5,044lied#5,059

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list