HOS is valid in Collins, not in North America — 6 points
It depends on the list you play by. HOS is in Collins, used in the UK and most of the world, but it is not in the North American lists — so in a US or Canadian game an opponent can challenge it off the board. Worth 6 points. Words with Friends does accept it.
Which word lists accept HOS?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Valid |
Word power: 54 / 100
Our own measure of how useful HOS is to know. It scores 6 from 3 tiles, takes 8 hooks, and its letters make up 4.7% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for HOS
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How HOS scores
Face value of the 3 tiles in HOS, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| h | 1 | 2 |
| o | 1 | 8 |
| s | 1 | 4 |
Drawing exactly these 3 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 2,527.
What stands out about HOS
- The same 3 tiles also spell 3 other words, so the rack is worth re-reading before you play it.
Counted from the four word lists we hold, not taken from anywhere else. How we calculate things
What does HOS mean in Scrabble?
noun
offensive
A coarse term for women in general, in the plural, from a respelling of an older insult.
Ho emerged within African American English as a phonetic respelling of a much older slur, and gained wider currency through hip hop lyrics and film in the 1990s. Hos surfaces far more often than the singular, since the usage typically addresses a whole group rather than a single addressee. Commentators studying the word treat this collective framing as central to the objections raised against it.
How HOS is used
Plural of ho. Offensive in every register, and described here rather than recommended.
- Radio edits have always replaced hos with a bleep.
- The sleeve prints hos in full and the booklet does not.
- Critics of the genre point to hos as the clearest example of the problem.
- A style guide advises quoting hos only where the quotation is the point.
- Broadcasters treat hos as unairable before nine at night.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of HOS and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Anagrams of HOS
The 3 tiles of HOS in a different order — 3 found.
Words starting with HOS
Showing 24 of 104 words that begin with HOS.
Words ending in HOS
Showing 24 of 73 words that end in HOS. Useful as a back hook: play HOS onto a word already on the board.
Words with HOS inside
Showing 24 of 414 words that contain HOS somewhere in the middle. Words that start with HOS are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in HOS
Common questions about HOS
- Is HOS valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts HOS, where it scores 5 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is HOS worth?
- HOS is worth 6 points in Scrabble and 5 points in Words with Friends.
- What does HOS mean?
- A coarse term for women in general, in the plural, from a respelling of an older insult.
- What letters can be added to HOS?
- HOS takes 8 hooks: 5 in front and 3 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 3 letters of HOS:
Open HOS in the Word Finder