hikedvsholedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hiked” and “holed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,826
“hiked” frequency rank
#27,497
“holed” frequency rank
58323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hiked holed
Definition simple past and past participle of hike simple past and past participle of hole

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hiked and holed apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hiked
5 ch
holed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hiked (/haɪkt/) and holed (/hoʊld/) 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 58323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hiked is recorded at frequency rank #30,826, classified as averb, pronounced /haɪkt/. holed is at rank #27,497, tagged as averb, pronounced /hoʊld/.

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 58323, this pair ranks #113,342 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hiked vs holed

Shared letters: deh. Private to "hiked": ik. Private to "holed": lo.

"hiked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "holed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hikedhhiked · hiekd · hikde · hikedd · hikked · hkied · ihked
  • holedhholed · hloed · hoeld · holde · holedd · holled · ohled

Frequency comparison

hiked#30,826
holed#27,497

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hiked" and "holed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/haɪkt/ versus /hoʊld/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hiked" or "holed"?
"holed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,497 in our English list, against #30,826 for "hiked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hiked vs holed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hiked” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list