Which to use
“behold” is a verb and “beholden” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,165
- “behold” frequency rank
- #36,451
- “beholden” frequency rank
- 46616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behold | beholden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon. | Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty. |
Where the eye mixes behold and beholden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. behold runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against beholden's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: behold vs beholden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: behold is /bɪˈhəʊld/ while beholden is /bɪˈhəʊldən/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “behold” sits inside “beholden”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
behold is recorded at frequency rank #10,165, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪˈhəʊld/. beholden is at rank #36,451, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bɪˈhəʊldən/.
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 46616, this pair ranks #210,073 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of behold vs beholden
Shared letters: bdehlo. Private to "behold": -. Private to "beholden": n.
"behold" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "beholden" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "behold" and "beholden" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "behold" or "beholden"?
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 "behold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beholden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,073 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behold" and "beholden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beholden vs beholder". 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 #210,073 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.