energyvsholyWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,353
“energy” frequency rank
#14,833
“holy” frequency rank
23186
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature energy holy
Definition Fähigkeit Arbeit zu verrichten: Energie heilig

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set energy and holy apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
energy
4 ch
holy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: energy is anoun and holyanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

energy is recorded at frequency rank #8,353, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. holy is at rank #14,833, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 23186, this pair ranks #1,864,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of energy vs holy

Shared letters: y. Private to "energy": egnr. Private to "holy": hlo.

"energy" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "holy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • energyeenrgy · enegry · energgy · energyy · enerrgy · eneryg · ennergy · enregy
  • holyhholy · hloy · holyy · hoyl · ohly

Frequency comparison

energy#8,353
holy#14,833

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "energy" and "holy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "energy" is a noun and "holy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "energy" or "holy"?
"energy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,353 in our German list, against #14,833 for "holy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering energy vs holy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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