HohnvsHolzWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,292
“Hohn” frequency rank
#1,925
“Holz” frequency rank
23217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hohn Holz
Definition demütigender, beißender Spott aus Zellulose und Lignin bestehende Masse eines Baumes

Where the eye mixes Hohn and Holz

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

4 ch
Hohn
4 ch
Holz

Why the eye confuses Hohn with Holz

A purely visual mix-up. Hohn ([hoːn]) and Holz ([hɔlt͡s]) 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 23217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hohn is recorded at frequency rank #21,292, classified as anoun, pronounced [hoːn]. Holz is at rank #1,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɔlt͡s].

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 23217, this pair ranks #1,864,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hohn vs Holz

Shared letters: ho. Private to "Hohn": n. Private to "Holz": lz.

"Hohn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Holz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hohnhhohn · hhon · hohhn · hohnn · honh · ohhn
  • Holzhholz · hloz · hollz · holzz · hozl · ohlz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hohn" and "Holz" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([hoːn] versus [hɔlt͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hohn" or "Holz" show up more?
"Holz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,925 in our German list, against #21,292 for "Hohn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Hohn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Holz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,864,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hohn" and "Holz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs Hohn". 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 #1,864,231 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