hontevshôtesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,083
“honte” frequency rank
#8,560
“hôtes” frequency rank
10643
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature honte hôtes
Definition Déshonneur, opprobre, humiliation (ce qui est le sens étymologique et ancien). Pluriel de hôte.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
honte
5 ch
hôtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. honte (^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\) and hôtes (^((h muet))\ot\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10643, 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\. hôtes is at rank #8,560, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ot\.

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 10643, this pair ranks #412,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of honte vs hôtes

Shared letters: eht. Private to "honte": no. Private to "hôtes": .

"honte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hôtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hontehhonte · hnote · honet · honnte · hontte · hotne · ohnte

Frequency comparison

honte#2,083
hôtes#8,560

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "honte" and "hôtes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\ versus ^((h muet))\ot\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "honte" or "hôtes"?
"honte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,083 in our French list, against #8,560 for "hôtes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering honte vs hôtes

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list