skulduggery vs hocus-pocus

skulduggery and hocus-pocus both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
skulduggery	Yes	No	No	No
hocus-pocus	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, skulduggery and hocus-pocus are synonyms defined as:

skulduggery and hocus-pocus: verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way

Other synonyms of skulduggery include hanky panky, jiggery-pokery, skullduggery, slickness, trickery.

skulduggery (noun)	hocus-pocus (noun)
verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way	verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way
	a meaningless chant or expression used in conjuring or incantation.