hostel
/ˈhɑstəl/
"hostel" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hostel” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,493 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,493
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
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 | hostel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɑstəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,493 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hostel” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hostel is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɑstəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,493 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for hostel, with forms such as "hhostel", "hosetl", and "hosstel". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "hotel", "hosts", "hotter", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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… The correct English form is hostel, spelled H-O-S-T-E-L.
Definition
- 1A commercial overnight lodging place, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
- 2A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.
- 3A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge.
- 4A public hotel.
- 5A university or school dormitory, a place of accommodation for students.
Etymology
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).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhostel,hosetl,hosstel,hostell,hostle,hosttel,hotsel,hsotel,ohstel
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hostel - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “hostel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-S-T-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɑstəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hotel” - see the side-by-side comparison. hostel vs hotel
- 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.