hour

Name: hour, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/aʊə/

//aʊə// noun

By PlainSpell Editorial Team · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“hour” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #675 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#675
frequency rank, English: 4
letters: 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).

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
Property	Value
Headword	hour
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	/aʊə/
Letters	4
Frequency rank	#675
Misspellings tracked	5
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (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:

#675

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hour is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /aʊə/. Corpus data places it at rank #675 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

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

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.

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.

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.

Using “hour”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is H-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as /aʊə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
Don't mix it up with “HR” - see the side-by-side comparison. hour vs HR
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.