hontevshostieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,083
“honte” frequency rank
#28,989
“hostie” frequency rank
31072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature honte hostie
Definition Déshonneur, opprobre, humiliation (ce qui est le sens étymologique et ancien). Pain très mince et sans levain (azyme) que le prêtre offre et consacre à la messe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set honte and hostie apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
honte
6 ch
hostie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. honte (^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\) and hostie (^((h muet))\ɔs.ti\) 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 31072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

honte is recorded at frequency rank #2,083, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\. hostie is at rank #28,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔs.ti\.

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 31072, this pair ranks #306,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of honte vs hostie

Shared letters: ehot. Private to "honte": n. Private to "hostie": is.

"honte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hostie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hontehhonte · hnote · honet · honnte · hontte · hotne · ohnte
  • hostiehhostie · hosite · hosstie · hostei · hosttie · hotsie · hsotie · ohstie

Frequency comparison

honte#2,083
hostie#28,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "honte" and "hostie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\ versus ^((h muet))\ɔs.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "honte" or "hostie"?
"honte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,083 in our French list, against #28,989 for "hostie". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering honte vs hostie

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 “honte” 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