host
/həʊst/
"host" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“host” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,758) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #1,758
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
Corpus desk
Index EN-host · host · English
host · rank #1,758 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,758
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH garden
Nearest frequency peer: garden (-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 “host”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- drugs
drugs
98,246 corpus weight
- efforts
efforts
98,245 corpus weight
- garden
garden
98,244 corpus weight
- host
host
98,243 corpus weight
- housing
housing
98,242 corpus weight
- inc
inc
98,241 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “host” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | host |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /həʊst/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,758 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “host”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for host is neighbouring look-alikes ("how", "hot", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /həʊst/. Frequency #1,758 among 2,646 “H” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for host, with forms such as "hhost", "hosst", and "hostt". 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", "hut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis Proto-Indo-European *pótis Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis Proto-Italic *hostipotis Latin hospes Old French ostebor. Middle English hoste English host From Middle English hoste, from Old French oste (French: hôte… The correct English form is host, spelled H-O-S-T.
Definition
- 1One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
- 2One that provides a facility for an event.
- 3A person or organization responsible for running an event.
- 4A moderator or master of ceremonies for a performance.
- 5The primary member of a system, typically the member who fronts most often.
- 6Any computer attached to a network.
- 7A cell or organism which harbors another organism or biological entity, usually a parasite.
- 8An organism bearing certain genetic material, with respect to its cells.
- 9A paid male companion offering conversation and in some cases sex, as in certain types of bar in Japan.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how host appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A good host is always considerate of the guest’s needs.
Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis Proto-Indo-European *pótis Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis Proto-Italic *hostipotis Latin hospes Old French ostebor. Middle English hoste English host From Middle English hoste, from Old French oste (French: hôte), from Latin hospitem, accusative of hospes (“a host, also a sojourner, visitor, guest; hence, a foreigner, a stranger”), from *hostipotis, an old compound of hostis and the root of potis, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis (“master of guests”), from *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, enemy”) and *pótis (“owner, master, host, husband”). Used in English since 13th century.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hhost
- hosst
- hostt
- ohst
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of host - 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 "host"?
What does "host" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "host"?
How do you pronounce "host"?
What is the origin of the word "host"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "host", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).