holdevsHolzConfusable pair

Quick tell: holde is a adjective, Holz is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#45,352
“holde” frequency rank
#1,925
“Holz” frequency rank
47277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature holde Holz
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hold aus Zellulose und Lignin bestehende Masse eines Baumes

Where the eye mixes holde and Holz

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

5 ch
holde
4 ch
Holz

Look-alike desk: holde vs Holz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: holde is [ˈhɔldə] while Holz is [hɔlt͡s]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

holde is recorded at frequency rank #45,352, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔldə]. 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 47277, this pair ranks #1,290,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of holde vs Holz

Shared letters: hlo. Private to "holde": de. Private to "Holz": z.

"holde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Holz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holdehholde · hlode · hodle · holdde · holed · hollde · ohlde
  • Holzhholz · hloz · hollz · holzz · hozl · ohlz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "holde" and "Holz" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "holde" is an adjective and "Holz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "holde" vs "Holz" - which ranks higher?
"Holz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,925 in our German list, against #45,352 for "holde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "holde" 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 #1,290,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "holde" and "Holz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hola vs holde". 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 #1,290,000 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