hour

/aʊə/

//aʊə// noun

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

"hour" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hour” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #675. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#675
frequency rank, English
23,837
“H” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).

Corpus desk

Index EN-hour · hour · English

hour · rank #675 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #675
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 23,837
  • PHOTO-FINISH higher

Nearest frequency peer: higher (-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 “hour”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “hour” 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 May 6, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hour vs HR
0% similar
hour vs Hu
25% similar
hour vs how
50% similar

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

Key facts for hour
PropertyValue
Headwordhour
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/aʊə/
Letters4
Frequency rank#675
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hour” 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). hour lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around hour (IPA /aʊə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #675 among 23,837 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for hour, with forms such as "hhour", "horu", and "hourr". 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, "HR", "Hu", "how", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“ye… The correct English form is hour, spelled H-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).
  2. 2
    A season, moment, or time.
  3. 3
    The time.
  4. 4
    Used after a two-digit hour and a two-digit minute to indicate time.
  5. 5
    The amount of labor demanded by an employer in terms of time.
  6. 6
    The set times of prayer, the canonical hours, the offices or services prescribed for these, or a book containing them.
  7. 7
    A distance that can be traveled in one hour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Holonyms: day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
  2. Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond

Etymology

From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English ġēar (“year”). Doublet of hora and year. Compare horary. Partly displaced native Old English tīd (“time, hour”), whence Modern English tide.

This word in other languages

hora(Español)heure(Français)Stunde(Deutsch)hora(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • hhour
  • horu
  • hourr
  • huor
  • ohur

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hour - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

hhour1horu2hourr1huor2ohur2
Edit distance from "hour"

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hour"?
"hour" is spelled H-O-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is /aʊə/.
What does "hour" mean?
As a noun, "hour" means: A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).
What words are commonly confused with "hour"?
"hour" is commonly confused with "HR", "Hu", "how". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hour"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hour" is /aʊə/. 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 "hour"?
From Middle English houre, hour, oure, from Old French houre, from Latin hōra (“hour”), from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “any time or period, whether of the year, month, or day”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”). Akin to Old English... 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 "hour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

view#668test#667star#666wish#685

Similar misspelling depth

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

gone5 variantsguess5 variantsdead5 variantsadded5 variants
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