hotelvshôtesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,576
“hotel” frequency rank
#8,560
“hôtes” frequency rank
16136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hotel hôtes
Definition (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour la lettre latine H. Pluriel de hôte.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
hotel
5 ch
hôtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hotel (\hoˈtɛl\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hotel is recorded at frequency rank #7,576, classified as anoun, pronounced \hoˈtɛl\. 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 16136, this pair ranks #389,214 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hotel vs hôtes

Shared letters: eht. Private to "hotel": lo. Private to "hôtes": .

"hotel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hôtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hotelhhotel · hoetl · hotell · hotle · hottel · htoel · ohtel

Frequency comparison

hotel#7,576
hôtes#8,560

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hotel" and "hôtes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\hoˈtɛl\ versus ^((h muet))\ot\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hotel" or "hôtes"?
"hotel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,576 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 hotel 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 “hotel” 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