hoursvshouseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,541
“hours” frequency rank
#5,569
“house” frequency rank
37110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hours house
Definition Chevalets qui soutiennent l’arbre sur lequel travaillent des scieurs de long. Genre musical composé, basiquement, d’un rythme minimal, d’une ligne de basse funky, et de voix.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
hours
5 ch
house

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hours (^((h aspiré))\uʁ\) and house (^((h aspiré))\aws\) 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 37110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hours is recorded at frequency rank #31,541, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\uʁ\. house is at rank #5,569, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\aws\.

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 37110, this pair ranks #264,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hours vs house

Shared letters: hosu. Private to "hours": r. Private to "house": e.

"hours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "house" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hourshhours · hourrs · hourss · housr · huors · ohurs
  • househhouse · hosue · houes · huose · ohuse

Frequency comparison

hours#31,541
house#5,569

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hours" and "house" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\uʁ\ versus ^((h aspiré))\aws\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hours" or "house"?
"house" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,569 in our French list, against #31,541 for "hours". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hours vs house

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 “hours” 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