hoaxvshoganWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,378
“hoax” frequency rank
#33,721
“hogan” frequency rank
81099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoax hogan
Definition Canular, bobard, intox, en particulier diffusé sur Internet. Maison traditionnelle en terre des Indiens Navajos.

Where the eye mixes hoax and hogan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hoax runs 4 letters (CVVC) against hogan's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
hoax
5 ch
hogan

Why the eye confuses hoax with hogan

A purely visual mix-up. hoax (^((h aspiré))\oks\) and hogan (\o.ɡan\) 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 81099, 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\. hogan is at rank #33,721, tagged as anoun, pronounced \o.ɡan\.

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 81099, this pair ranks #19,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hoax vs hogan

Shared letters: aho. Private to "hoax": x. Private to "hogan": gn.

"hoax" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hogan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hoax ← haox · hhoax · hoaxx · hoxa · ohax
  • hogan ← hgoan · hhogan · hoagn · hogann · hoggan · hogna · ohgan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hoax" and "hogan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\oks\ versus \o.ɡan\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hoax" or "hogan"?
"hogan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,721 in our French list, against #47,378 for "hoax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hoax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hogan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hoax" and "hogan" 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 #19,483 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