Which to use
“hôtesse” and “hôtesses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,448
- “hôtesse” frequency rank
- #29,387
- “hôtesses” frequency rank
- 46835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hôtesse | hôtesses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui reçoit dans sa demeure ou un lieu dont elle est responsable. | Pluriel de hôtesse. |
Where the eye mixes hôtesse and hôtesses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. hôtesse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against hôtesses's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hôtesse with hôtesses
A purely visual mix-up. hôtesse (^((h muet))\o.tɛs\) and hôtesses (\ɔ.tɛs\) 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 extra letter(s) - “hôtesse” sits inside “hôtesses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hôtesse is recorded at frequency rank #17,448, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\o.tɛs\. hôtesses is at rank #29,387, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.tɛs\.
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 46835, this pair ranks #191,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hôtesse vs hôtesses
Shared letters: ehstô. Private to "hôtesse": -. Private to "hôtesses": -.
"hôtesse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "hôtesses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hôtesse" and "hôtesses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hôtesse" or "hôtesses"?
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 "hôtesse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hôtesses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #191,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hôtesse" and "hôtesses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hortense vs hôtesse". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #191,689 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.