holevsHülseTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,486
“hole” frequency rank
#42,585
“Hülse” frequency rank
50071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole Hülse
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs holen feste und meist längliche Hülle, in die etwas hineingesteckt werden kann

Where the eye mixes hole and Hülse

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

4 ch
hole
5 ch
Hülse

Why the eye confuses hole with Hülse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hole is [ˈhoːlə] while Hülse is [ˈhʏlzə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hole is recorded at frequency rank #7,486, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhoːlə]. Hülse is at rank #42,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏlzə].

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 50071, this pair ranks #1,187,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs Hülse

Shared letters: ehl. Private to "hole": o. Private to "Hülse": .

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Hülse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hole" and "Hülse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hole" is a verb and "Hülse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hole" or "Hülse"?
"hole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,486 in our German list, against #42,585 for "Hülse". 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 "hole" and "Hülse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hülse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,187,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hole" and "Hülse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holde vs Hülse". 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 #1,187,720 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