HallovshollowWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#749
“Hallo” frequency rank
#37,571
“hollow” frequency rank
38320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hallo hollow
Definition lautes Rufen; fröhliches, lautes Durcheinander hohl, ausgehöhlt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Hallo and hollow apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Hallo
6 ch
hollow

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hallo is [haˈloː] while hollow is [ˈhɒləʊ]. 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 38320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hallo is recorded at frequency rank #749, classified as anoun, pronounced [haˈloː]. hollow is at rank #37,571, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɒləʊ].

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 38320, this pair ranks #1,567,047 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hallo vs hollow

Shared letters: hlo. Private to "Hallo": a. Private to "hollow": w.

"Hallo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hollow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Halloahllo · halol · hhallo · hlalo
  • hollowhhollow · hlolow · holloww · hollwo · hololw · holow · ohllow

Frequency comparison

Hallo#749
hollow#37,571

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hallo" and "hollow" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hallo" is a noun and "hollow" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hallo" or "hollow"?
"Hallo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #749 in our German list, against #37,571 for "hollow". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Hallo vs hollow

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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