hostel
/ˈhɑstəl/noun, verb
hostel is spelled H-O-S-T-E-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “hostel vs hostile” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, hostel means “An overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of hostel is hostels.
How many letters and syllables are in hostel?
| Letters | 6: H-O-S-T-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is hostel?
Hostel appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hostel?
- US /ˈhɑstəl/
- UK /ˈhɒstəl/
- /ˈhɔsʈəl/
Hostel has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hostel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with hostel
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: hostile (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with hostel?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hostel from its last stressed vowel (/ɑstəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of hostel
- hostels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- hosteling US, participle, present
- hostelling UK, participle, present
- hosteled US, participle, past
- hostelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hostel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
a rundown hostel
- 2
A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.
- 3
obsoleteA small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge.
- 4
obsoleteA public hotel.
- 5
A university or school dormitory, a place of accommodation for students.
verb
- 1
To stay in a hostel during one's travels.
- 2
To lodge (a person) in a hostel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hostel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | auberge, pension |
| German | Herberge, Wohnheim, Heim |
| Portuguese | albergue, estalagem , abrigo , lar de estudantes |
| Spanish | albergue, parador, hostal |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hostel come from?
From Middle English hostel, from Old French hostel, ostel, from Late Latin hospitale (“hospice”), from Classical Latin hospitalis (“hospitable”) itself from hospes (“host”) + -alis (“-al”). Doublet of hotel and hospital. Not in use from late 17th c. (in the usual sense from mid 16th c.) to 1808, when it was revived by Walter Scott in his poem Marmion (see the quotation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).