Which to use
“hac” is a noun and “hoc” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,732
- “hac” frequency rank
- #22,043
- “hoc” frequency rank
- 60775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hac | hoc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hache. | Hacia aquí, hacia este lugar, en esta dirección. |
Where the eye mixes hac and hoc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hac and hoc follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: hac vs hoc
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hac is [ˈak] while hoc is /ˈhoːk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “hac” becomes o in “hoc”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hac is recorded at frequency rank #38,732, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈak]. hoc is at rank #22,043, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈhoːk/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 60775, this pair ranks #57,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hac vs hoc
Shared letters: ch. Private to "hac": a. Private to "hoc": o.
"hac" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hoc" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hac" for "hoc" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hac" vs "hoc" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hoc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hac" and "hoc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hac vs Hahn". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #57,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.