A-hold or ahold?
a-hold is an adverb meaning “Alternative form of ahold”; ahold is a noun meaning “A hold, grip, grasp”. a-hold is written with a hyphen and ahold as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between a-hold and ahold?
| a-hold | ahold | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb | adverb, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative form of ahold | informalA hold, grip, grasp |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /əˈhoʊld/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: a-hold and ahold in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of a-hold and ahold
a-hold
- 1
Alternative form of ahold
ahold
- 1
informalA hold, grip, grasp
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, a-hold or ahold?
a-hold is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; ahold about once in every 1 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search a-hold vs ahold?
“a-hold vs ahold” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“ahold vs a-hold”, “a-hold or ahold”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.