CSS

use css to replace icon with text when hover

<div class="nav">
    <ul>
        <li class="home">
        	<a href="index.html"><i class="icon fa fa-home fa-2x"></i><b>Home</b></a>
        </li>
        <li class="about">
        	<a href="about"><i class="icon fa fa-coffee fa-2x"></i><b>About</b></a>
        </li>
        <li class="projects">
        	<a href="#projects"><i class="icon fa fa-code fa-2x"></i><b>Projects</b></a>
        </li>
        <li class="contact">
        	<a href="#contact"><i class="icon fa fa-comment fa-2x"></i><b>Contact</b></a>
        </li>
    </ul>
</div>

use css to replace icon with text when hover

<li class="home">
    <a href="index.html"><i class="icon fa fa-home fa-2x"></i><b>Home</b></a>
</li>

use css to replace icon with text when hover

@import url("https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css");

.nav ul {
    list-style: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
}
.nav li {
    font-size:12pt;
    display:block;
    float: left;
    height:90px;
    width: 145px; /*new*/
    text-align: center; /*new*/
    transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
}
.nav .home {
    background: #a3d39c;
}
.nav .about {
    background: #7accc8;
}
.nav .projects {
    background: #4aaaa5;
}
.nav .contact {
    background: #35404f;
}
.nav li a {
    font-family: FontAwesome;
    color:#eee;
    font-size:22pt;
    text-decoration: none;
    display: block;
    padding:15px;
}
.nav li i {
    color:#fff;
    padding:0 10px;
}
.nav li b {
    padding: 15px 0;
    display: none;
}
.nav a:hover {
    color: #fff;
}
.nav a:hover i {
    display: none;
}
.nav a:hover b {
    display: block;
}