Which to use
“hold” is a verb and “holes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #655
- “hold” frequency rank
- #3,949
- “holes” frequency rank
- 4604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hold | holes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To grasp or grip. | plural of hole |
Where the eye mixes hold and holes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hold is /həʊld/ while holes is /həʊlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hold is recorded at frequency rank #655, classified as averb, pronounced /həʊld/. 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 4604, this pair ranks #518,341 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hold vs holes
Shared letters: hlo. Private to "hold": d. Private to "holes": es.
"hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "holes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC