hôtevshôtesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,098
“hôte” frequency rank
#8,560
“hôtes” frequency rank
14658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hôte hôtes
Definition Celui qui donne l’hospitalité par humanité, par amitié, par bienveillance. Pluriel de hôte.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hôte and hôtes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hôte
5 ch
hôtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. hôte and hôtes are pronounced identically (^((h muet))\ot\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hôte” sits inside “hôtes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hôte is recorded at frequency rank #6,098, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ot\. 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 14658, this pair ranks #395,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hôte vs hôtes

Shared letters: ehtô. Private to "hôte": -. Private to "hôtes": s.

"hôte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hôtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

hôte#6,098
hôtes#8,560

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hôte" and "hôtes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (^((h muet))\ot\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "hôte" or "hôtes"?
"hôte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,098 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 hôte 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 “hôte” 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