hackvshocWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“hack” and “hoc” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,232
“hack” frequency rank
#18,770
“hoc” frequency rank
43002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hack hoc
Definition Piratage informatique. Sorte de jeu de carte introduit, parait-il, en France par Mazarin.

Where the eye mixes hack and hoc

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hack
3 ch
hoc

Why the eye confuses hack with hoc

A purely visual mix-up. hack (^((h aspiré))\ak\) and hoc (^((h aspiré))\ɔk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hack is recorded at frequency rank #24,232, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ak\. hoc is at rank #18,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔk\.

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 43002, this pair ranks #221,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hack vs hoc

Shared letters: ch. Private to "hack": ak. Private to "hoc": o.

"hack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hoc" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hackahck · hacck · hackk · hakc · hcak · hhack

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hack" and "hoc" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ak\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɔk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hack" vs "hoc" - which ranks higher?
"hoc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,770 in our French list, against #24,232 for "hack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "hack" and "hoc" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hack" 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 #221,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hack" and "hoc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hack vs hash". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #221,342 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list