horavshotWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#232
“hora” frequency rank
#6,301
“hot” frequency rank
6533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hora hot
Definition período de sessenta minutos de tempo; unidade de medida de tempo quente

Where the eye mixes hora and hot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hora
3 ch
hot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hora is ['ɒ.rɐ] 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 6533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hora is recorded at frequency rank #232, classified as anoun, pronounced ['ɒ.rɐ]. 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 6533, this pair ranks #67,878 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hora vs hot

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hora": ar. Private to "hot": t.

"hora" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • horahhora · hoar · horra · hroa · ohra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hora" and "hot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hora" is a noun and "hot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hora" or "hot"?
"hora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #232 in our Portuguese list, against #6,301 for "hot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list