hoivsholeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hoi is a intj, hole is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hoi” is an intj and “hole” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,901
“hoi” frequency rank
#7,486
“hole” frequency rank
49387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoi hole
Definition Ausruf des (freudigen) Erstaunens 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs holen

Where the eye mixes hoi and hole

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

3 ch
hoi
4 ch
hole

Look-alike desk: hoi vs hole

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hoi is [hɔɪ̯] while hole is [ˈhoːlə]. 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 (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoi is recorded at frequency rank #41,901, classified as anintj, pronounced [hɔɪ̯]. hole is at rank #7,486, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhoːlə].

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 49387, this pair ranks #1,213,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hoi vs hole

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hoi": i. Private to "hole": el.

"hoi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hoi" and "hole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hoi" is an intj and "hole" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hoi" or "hole" show up more?
"hole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,486 in our German list, against #41,901 for "hoi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hoi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,213,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hoi" and "hole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs hoi". 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 #1,213,429 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