Which to use
“hostel” and “hôtes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,976
- “hostel” frequency rank
- #8,560
- “hôtes” frequency rank
- 52536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hostel | hôtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Auberge de jeunesse, pension dans les pays anglosaxons. | Pluriel de hôte. |
Where the eye mixes hostel and hôtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hostel with hôtes
A purely visual mix-up. hostel (\ɔs.tel\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hostel is recorded at frequency rank #43,976, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔs.tel\. 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 52536, this pair ranks #147,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hostel vs hôtes
Shared letters: ehst. Private to "hostel": lo. Private to "hôtes": ô.
"hostel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hôtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hostel ← hhostel · hosetl · hosstel · hostell · hostle · hosttel · hotsel · hsotel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hostel" for "hôtes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "hostel" or "hôtes" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hostel" and "hôtes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hostel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hôtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hostel" and "hôtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hostel vs hotte". 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 #147,061 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.