HorusvshouWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Horus is a name, hou is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Horus” is a name and “hou” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,344
“Horus” frequency rank
#26,040
“hou” frequency rank
64384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Horus hou
Definition Nom grec de Hor, dieu égyptien à tête de faucon, dit Horus le jeune, ou l’enfant, car il est le fils d’Osiris et d’Isis, et le neveu d’Horus l’Ancien. Suppose le cri d’un fantôme.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
Horus
3 ch
hou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Horus is \ɔ.ʁys\ while hou is ^((h aspiré))\u\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Horus is recorded at frequency rank #38,344, classified as aname, pronounced \ɔ.ʁys\. hou is at rank #26,040, tagged as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\u\.

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 64384, this pair ranks #77,310 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Horus vs hou

Shared letters: hou. Private to "Horus": rs. Private to "hou": -.

"Horus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Horushhorus · horrus · horsu · horuss · hrous · ohrus

Frequency comparison

Horus#38,344
hou#26,040

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Horus" and "hou" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Horus" is a name and "hou" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Horus" or "hou"?
"hou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,040 in our French list, against #38,344 for "Horus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Horus vs hou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Horus”; for an intj, it's “hou”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Horus” 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