hose
/həʊz/
"hose" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hose” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,710 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,710
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A flexible tube conveying water or other fluid.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /həʊz/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #10,710 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hose” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hose is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /həʊz/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,710 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for hose, with forms such as "hhose", "hoes", and "hosse". 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", "hue", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hose (“leggings, hose”), from Old English hose, hosa (“hose, leggings”), from Proto-West Germanic *hosā, from Proto-Germanic *husǭ (“coverings, leggings, trousers”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”). Cognate with West Fris… The correct English form is hose, spelled H-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1A flexible tube conveying water or other fluid.
- 2A stocking-like garment worn on the legs; pantyhose, women's tights.
- 3Close-fitting trousers or breeches, reaching to the knee.
Etymology
From Middle English hose (“leggings, hose”), from Old English hose, hosa (“hose, leggings”), from Proto-West Germanic *hosā, from Proto-Germanic *husǭ (“coverings, leggings, trousers”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”). Cognate with West Frisian hoas (“hose”), Dutch hoos (“stocking, water-hose”), German Hose (“trousers”); also, Tocharian A kać (“skin”), Russian кишка́ (kišká, “gut”), Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “bladder”), Sanskrit कोष्ठ (koṣṭha, “intestine”). More at sky.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhose,hoes,hosse,ohse
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hose - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "hose"?
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Using “hose”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /həʊz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “how” - see the side-by-side comparison. hose vs how
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.