hitsvshotWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hits is a noun, hot is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hits” is a noun and “hot” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,080
“hits” frequency rank
#6,301
“hot” frequency rank
17381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hits hot
Definition plural de hit quente

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hits and hot apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hits
3 ch
hot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hits is /hɪts while hot is /hɒt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hits is recorded at frequency rank #11,080, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɪts. hot is at rank #6,301, tagged as anadj, pronounced /hɒt/.

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 17381, this pair ranks #53,880 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hits vs hot

Shared letters: ht. Private to "hits": is. Private to "hot": o.

"hits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hitshhits · hist · hitss · hitts · htis · ihts

Frequency comparison

hits#11,080
hot#6,301

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hits" and "hot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hits" is a noun and "hot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hits" or "hot"?
"hot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,301 in our Portuguese list, against #11,080 for "hits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hits vs hot

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “hits”; for an adjective, it's “hot”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hits” 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