hostilesvshostilitésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hostiles is a adjective, hostilités is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hostiles” is an adjective and “hostilités” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,423
“hostiles” frequency rank
#12,978
“hostilités” frequency rank
24401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hostiles hostilités
Definition Pluriel de hostile. Pluriel de hostilité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hostiles and hostilités apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
hostiles
10 ch
hostilités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

hostiles and hostilités form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hostiles is recorded at frequency rank #11,423, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔs.til\. hostilités is at rank #12,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔs.ti.li.te\.

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 24401, this pair ranks #346,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

hostiles#11,423
hostilités#12,978

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hostiles" and "hostilités" be used interchangeably?
No, "hostiles" and "hostilités" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering hostiles vs hostilités

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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