Which to use
“hoax” and “hoc” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,378
- “hoax” frequency rank
- #18,770
- “hoc” frequency rank
- 66148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hoax | hoc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Canular, bobard, intox, en particulier diffusé sur Internet. | Sorte de jeu de carte introduit, parait-il, en France par Mazarin. |
Where the eye mixes hoax and hoc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hoax runs 4 letters (CVVC) against hoc's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hoax with hoc
A purely visual mix-up. hoax (^((h aspiré))\oks\) 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 66148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hoax is recorded at frequency rank #47,378, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\oks\. 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 66148, this pair ranks #69,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hoax vs hoc
Shared letters: ho. Private to "hoax": ax. Private to "hoc": c.
"hoax" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hoc" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hoax ← haox · hhoax · hoaxx · hoxa · ohax
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hoax" and "hoc" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "hoax" or "hoc" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hoax" 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 #69,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hoax" and "hoc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hoax". 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 #69,071 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.