Which to use
“hiboux” and “houx” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,823
- “hiboux” frequency rank
- #45,659
- “houx” frequency rank
- 87482
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hiboux | houx |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de hibou. | Arbre toujours vert, de la famille des aquifoliacées, dont les feuilles sont luisantes et armées de piquants et dont le fruit est une baie d’un très beau rouge. |
Where the eye mixes hiboux and houx
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hiboux runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against houx's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hiboux vs houx
A purely visual mix-up. hiboux (^((h aspiré))\i.bu\) and houx (^((h aspiré))\u\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hiboux is recorded at frequency rank #41,823, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\i.bu\. houx is at rank #45,659, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\u\.
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 87482, this pair ranks #8,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hiboux vs houx
Shared letters: houx. Private to "hiboux": bi. Private to "houx": -.
"hiboux" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "houx" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hiboux" and "houx" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hiboux" or "houx"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hiboux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "houx" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hiboux" and "houx" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Houda vs houx". 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 #8,221 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.