Which to use
“hôtels” and “hôtes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,770
- “hôtels” frequency rank
- #8,560
- “hôtes” frequency rank
- 14330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hôtels | hôtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de hôtel. | Pluriel de hôte. |
Where the eye mixes hôtels and hôtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hôtels runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against hôtes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hôtels with hôtes
A purely visual mix-up. hôtels (^((h muet))\ɔ.tɛl\) 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 14330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hôtels is recorded at frequency rank #5,770, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔ.tɛl\. 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 14330, this pair ranks #397,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hôtels vs hôtes
Shared letters: ehstô. Private to "hôtels": l. Private to "hôtes": -.
"hôtels" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "hôtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hôtels" for "hôtes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hôtels" vs "hôtes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hôtels" 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 #397,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hôtels" and "hôtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haters vs hôtes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #397,161 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.