HolmvshourConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,179
“Holm” frequency rank
#18,576
“hour” frequency rank
41755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Holm hour
Definition eine Stange, in der Regel aus Holz Stunde

Where the eye mixes Holm and hour

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

4 ch
Holm
4 ch
hour

Look-alike desk: Holm vs hour

A purely visual mix-up. Holm ([hɔlm]) and hour ([aʊə(ɹ)]) 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 41755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Holm is recorded at frequency rank #23,179, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɔlm]. hour is at rank #18,576, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aʊə(ɹ)].

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 41755, this pair ranks #1,470,072 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Holm vs hour

Shared letters: ho. Private to "Holm": lm. Private to "hour": ru.

"Holm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Holmhholm · hlom · hollm · holmm · homl · ohlm
  • hourhhour · horu · hourr · huor · ohur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Holm" for "hour" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([hɔlm] versus [aʊə(ɹ)]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Holm" vs "hour" - which ranks higher?
"hour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,576 in our German list, against #23,179 for "Holm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Holm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,470,072 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Holm" and "hour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs Holm". 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 #1,470,072 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