Which to use
“hors” is a preposition and “horst” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #688
- “hors” frequency rank
- #45,100
- “horst” frequency rank
- 45788
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hors | horst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Préposition servant à marquer l’exclusion du lieu. | Compartiment surélevé entre deux grabens. |
Where the eye mixes hors and horst
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hors with horst
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hors is ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ\ while horst is \ɔʁst\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hors” sits inside “horst”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hors is recorded at frequency rank #688, classified as aprep, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ\. horst is at rank #45,100, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁst\.
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 45788, this pair ranks #200,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hors vs horst
Shared letters: hors. Private to "hors": -. Private to "horst": t.
"hors" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "horst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hors" and "horst" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hors" or "horst"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hors" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "horst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hors" and "horst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "horst vs hurt". 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 #200,043 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.