hitsvsholyWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,337
“hits” frequency rank
#14,833
“holy” frequency rank
22170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hits holy
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hit heilig

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
hits
4 ch
holy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hits is averb and holyanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hits is recorded at frequency rank #7,337, classified as averb, 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 22170, this pair ranks #1,877,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hits vs holy

Shared letters: h. Private to "hits": ist. Private to "holy": loy.

"hits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "holy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hitshhits · hist · hitss · hitts · ihts
  • holyhholy · hloy · holyy · hoyl · ohly

Frequency comparison

hits#7,337
holy#14,833

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hits" and "holy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hits" is a verb and "holy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hits" or "holy"?
"hits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,337 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 hits vs holy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hits”; for an adjective, it's “holy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hits” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list