hocvshugWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,770
“hoc” frequency rank
#39,337
“hug” frequency rank
58107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoc hug
Definition Sorte de jeu de carte introduit, parait-il, en France par Mazarin. Accolade.

Where the eye mixes hoc and hug

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
hoc
3 ch
hug

Look-alike desk: hoc vs hug

A purely visual mix-up. hoc (^((h aspiré))\ɔk\) and hug (^((h aspiré))\œɡ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoc is recorded at frequency rank #18,770, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔk\. hug is at rank #39,337, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\œɡ\.

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 58107, this pair ranks #110,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hoc vs hug

Shared letters: h. Private to "hoc": co. Private to "hug": gu.

"hoc" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hug" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hoc" and "hug" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ɔk\ versus ^((h aspiré))\œɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hoc" or "hug"?
"hoc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,770 in our French list, against #39,337 for "hug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hoc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hoc" and "hug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hug". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #110,987 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