Which to use
“hacker” is a verb and “hockey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,399
- “hacker” frequency rank
- #3,683
- “hockey” frequency rank
- 19082
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hacker | hockey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Générique) Modifier ou améliorer tout et n’importe quoi (logiciel et matériel, informatique ou non)… Pas par nécessité, mais par curiosité. | Jeu qui consiste à faire entrer une balle de cuir, un palet dans un but au moyen d’une crosse. |
Where the eye mixes hacker and hockey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hacker (CVCCVC) and hockey (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses hacker with hockey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hacker is ^((h aspiré))\a.ke\ while hockey is ^((h aspiré))\ɔ.kɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hacker is recorded at frequency rank #15,399, classified as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\a.ke\. hockey is at rank #3,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔ.kɛ\.
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 19082, this pair ranks #375,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hacker vs hockey
Shared letters: cehk. Private to "hacker": ar. Private to "hockey": oy.
"hacker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hockey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hacker" for "hockey" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "hacker" or "hockey" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hacker" and "hockey" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hacker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hockey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,112 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hacker" and "hockey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hacker vs hâter". 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 #375,112 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.