Which to use
“ahold” is an adverb and “avoid” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,370
- “ahold” frequency rank
- #1,416
- “avoid” frequency rank
- 35786
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ahold | avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brought to lie as near to the windward as it can to get out to sea, and thereby held steady. | To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun. |
Where the eye mixes ahold and avoid
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ahold and avoid
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ahold is /əˈhoʊld/ while avoid is /əˈvɔɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ahold is recorded at frequency rank #34,370, classified as anadv, pronounced /əˈhoʊld/. avoid is at rank #1,416, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈvɔɪd/.
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 35786, this pair ranks #308,946 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ahold vs avoid
Shared letters: ado. Private to "ahold": hl. Private to "avoid": iv.
"ahold" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "avoid" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ahold" and "avoid" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ahold" or "avoid"?
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 "ahold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avoid" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #308,946 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ahold" and "avoid" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahold vs AWOL". 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 #308,946 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.