haovshotWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hao is a verb, hot is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hao” is a verb and “hot” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,972
“hao” frequency rank
#6,200
“hot” frequency rank
50172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hao hot
Definition Diminuer; s’épuiser; se consumer. Intéressant.

Where the eye mixes hao and hot

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

3 ch
hao
3 ch
hot

Look-alike desk: hao vs hot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hao is \haɔ˦\ while hot is \ɔt\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hao is recorded at frequency rank #43,972, classified as averb, pronounced \haɔ˦\. hot is at rank #6,200, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɔt\.

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 50172, this pair ranks #164,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hao vs hot

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hao": a. Private to "hot": t.

"hao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hao" for "hot" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hao" is a verb and "hot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hao" vs "hot" - which ranks higher?
"hot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,200 in our French list, against #43,972 for "hao". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #164,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hao" and "hot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hao vs hash". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #164,727 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