Which to use
“hives” and “holes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,782
- “hives” frequency rank
- #3,949
- “holes” frequency rank
- 28731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hives | holes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions. | plural of hole |
Where the eye mixes hives and holes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hives with holes
A purely visual mix-up. hives (/haɪvz/) and holes (/həʊlz/) 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 28731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hives is recorded at frequency rank #24,782, classified as anoun, pronounced /haɪvz/. holes is at rank #3,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced /həʊlz/.
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 28731, this pair ranks #368,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hives vs holes
Shared letters: ehs. Private to "hives": iv. Private to "holes": lo.
"hives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "holes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hives" and "holes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hives" or "holes" show up more?
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 "hives" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "holes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hives" and "holes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hideo vs hives". 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 #368,755 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.