HöfevsholWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Höfe is a noun, hol is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Höfe” is a noun and “hol” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,734
“Höfe” frequency rank
#5,270
“hol” frequency rank
22004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Höfe hol
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hof 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs holen

Where the eye mixes Höfe and hol

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Höfe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hol's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Höfe
3 ch
hol

Visual trap between Höfe and hol

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Höfe is [ˈhøːfə] while hol is [hoːl]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Höfe is recorded at frequency rank #16,734, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːfə]. hol is at rank #5,270, tagged as averb, pronounced [hoːl].

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 22004, this pair ranks #1,879,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Höfe vs hol

Shared letters: h. Private to "Höfe": efö. Private to "hol": lo.

"Höfe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Höfe" for "hol" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Höfe" is a noun and "hol" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Höfe" or "hol"?
"hol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,270 in our German list, against #16,734 for "Höfe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Höfe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,879,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Höfe" and "hol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs Höfe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,879,509 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list