hotel

/həʊˈtɛl/

//həʊˈtɛl// noun

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

"hotel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hotel” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,191. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,191
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large town house or mansion; a grand private residence, especially in France.

Corpus desk

Index EN-hotel · hotel · English

hotel · rank #1,191 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,191
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH gotta

Nearest frequency peer: gotta (-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 neighbourhood for “hotel”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “hotel” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

hotel vs Howe
40% similar
hotel vs howl
60% similar
hotel vs hove
60% similar

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

Key facts for hotel
PropertyValue
Headwordhotel
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/həʊˈtɛl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,191
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hotel” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).hotellands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “gotta” (#1,190), “interested” (#1,192), “goals” (#1,189). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around hotel (IPA /həʊˈtɛl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,191 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hotel, with forms such as "hhotel", "hoetl", and "hotell". 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, "Howe", "howl", "hove", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Italic *hostipotjālis Latin hospitālis Old French ostel Middle French hostel French hôtelbor. English hotel Borrowed from French hôtel, from Middle French hostel, from Old French ostel, from Late Latin hospitālis (“hospice, shelter, gue… The correct English form is hotel, spelled H-O-T-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large town house or mansion; a grand private residence, especially in France.
  2. 2
    An establishment that provides accommodation and other services for paying guests; normally larger than a guesthouse, and often one of a chain.
  3. 3
    A public house or pub.
  4. 4
    A restaurant; any dining establishment.
  5. 5
    Alternative letter-case form of Hotel from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
  6. 6
    The larger red property in the game of Monopoly, in contradistinction to houses.
  7. 7
    The guest accommodation and dining section of a cruise ship.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. [T]he cream-coloured house (supposed to be modelled on the private hotels of the Parisian aristocracy) was there[.]
  2. 1868, "A Clergyman" (John Morison), Australia in 1866, page 165, When gold-digging commenced in California, the writer was staying at an hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, where a Yankee trader was also staying. Seated at the dining-table, the latter was discoursing of the business he was doing […] .

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *hostipotjālis Latin hospitālis Old French ostel Middle French hostel French hôtelbor. English hotel Borrowed from French hôtel, from Middle French hostel, from Old French ostel, from Late Latin hospitālis (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”). Doublet of hostel and hospital.

This word in other languages

hotel(Español)hôtel(Français)Hotel(Deutsch)hotel(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhotel
  • hoetl
  • hotell
  • hotle
  • hottel
  • htoel
  • ohtel

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hotel - 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.

hhotel1hoetl2hotell1hotle2hottel1htoel2ohtel2
Edit distance from "hotel"

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 "hotel"?
"hotel" is spelled H-O-T-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is /həʊˈtɛl/.
What does "hotel" mean?
As a noun, "hotel" means: A large town house or mansion; a grand private residence, especially in France.
What words are commonly confused with "hotel"?
"hotel" is commonly confused with "Howe", "howl", "hove". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hotel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hotel" is /həʊˈtɛl/. 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 "hotel"?
Etymology tree Proto-Italic *hostipotjālis Latin hospitālis Old French ostel Middle French hostel French hôtelbor. English hotel Borrowed from French hôtel, from Middle French hostel, from Old French ostel, from Late Latin hospitālis (“hospice, sh... 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 "hotel", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gotta#1,190goals#1,189judge#1,193lines#1,197

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

letter7 variantsnamed7 variantsclaim7 variantstrain7 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "hotel". Here's where to go from here.

  • "hotel" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Howe". View pair
  • 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #1,191 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list