holenvsholyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: holen is a verb, holy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“holen” is a verb and “holy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,328
“holen” frequency rank
#14,833
“holy” frequency rank
16161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature holen holy
Definition etwas oder jemanden herbeischaffen heilig

Letter map: holen vs holy

Shared letters muted; letters that set holen and holy apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
holen
4 ch
holy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: holen is averb and holyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

holen is recorded at frequency rank #1,328, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhoːlən]. holy is at rank #14,833, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 16161, this pair ranks #1,938,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of holen vs holy

Shared letters: hlo. Private to "holen": en. Private to "holy": y.

"holen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "holy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holenhholen · hloen · hoeln · holenn · hollen · holne · ohlen
  • holyhholy · hloy · holyy · hoyl · ohly

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "holen" and "holy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "holen" is a verb and "holy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "holen" or "holy"?
"holen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,328 in our German list, against #14,833 for "holy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "holen" and "holy". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "holen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "holy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,938,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "holen" and "holy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holy vs puzzles". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list