hofftvsholstWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hofft” and “holst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,669
“hofft” frequency rank
#16,732
“holst” frequency rank
23401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hofft holst
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hoffen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs holen

Where the eye mixes hofft and holst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
hofft
5 ch
holst

Why the eye confuses hofft with holst

A purely visual mix-up. hofft ([hɔft]) and holst ([hoːlst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hofft is recorded at frequency rank #6,669, classified as averb, pronounced [hɔft]. holst is at rank #16,732, tagged as averb, pronounced [hoːlst].

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 23401, this pair ranks #1,861,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hofft vs holst

Shared letters: hot. Private to "hofft": f. Private to "holst": ls.

"hofft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "holst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hoffthfoft · hhofft · hofftt · hoft · hoftf · ohfft
  • holsthholst · hlost · hollst · holsst · holstt · holts · hoslt · ohlst

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hofft" and "holst" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([hɔft] versus [hoːlst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "hofft" or "holst" show up more?
"hofft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,669 in our German list, against #16,732 for "holst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "hofft" and "holst" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hofft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "holst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,861,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hofft" and "holst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holst vs Homs". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,861,780 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