HöhlevsholdTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,271
“Höhle” frequency rank
#15,655
“hold” frequency rank
20926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Höhle hold
Definition durch natürliche Prozesse entstandener, für Menschen zugänglicher hohler Raum in der Erdkruste, der relativ nah an der Oberfläche ist und teilweise oder ganz von Gestein umgeben ist sehr zart und hübsch

Where the eye mixes Höhle and hold

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Höhle
4 ch
hold

Look-alike desk: Höhle vs hold

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Höhle is [ˈhøːlə] while hold is [hɔlt]. 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 20926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Höhle is recorded at frequency rank #5,271, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːlə]. hold is at rank #15,655, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hɔlt].

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 20926, this pair ranks #1,892,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Höhle vs hold

Shared letters: hl. Private to "Höhle": . Private to "hold": do.

"Höhle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holdhhold · hlod · hodl · holdd · holld · ohld

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Höhle" and "hold" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Höhle" is a noun and "hold" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Höhle" vs "hold" - which ranks higher?
"Höhle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,271 in our German list, against #15,655 for "hold". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Höhle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hold" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,892,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Höhle" and "hold" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs hold". 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 #1,892,155 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