homesvshôtelsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,429
“homes” frequency rank
#5,770
“hôtels” frequency rank
42199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature homes hôtels
Definition Pluriel de home. Pluriel de hôtel.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set homes and hôtels apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
homes
6 ch
hôtels

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. homes (^((h aspiré))\ɔm\) and hôtels (^((h muet))\ɔ.tɛl\) 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 42199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

homes is recorded at frequency rank #36,429, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔm\. hôtels is at rank #5,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔ.tɛl\.

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 42199, this pair ranks #227,451 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of homes vs hôtels

Shared letters: ehs. Private to "homes": mo. Private to "hôtels": ltô.

"homes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hôtels" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • homeshhomes · hmoes · hoems · homess · homse · ohmes

Frequency comparison

homes#36,429
hôtels#5,770

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "homes" and "hôtels" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ɔm\ versus ^((h muet))\ɔ.tɛl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "homes" or "hôtels"?
"hôtels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,770 in our French list, against #36,429 for "homes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering homes vs hôtels

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “homes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list