Which to use
“hold” is a verb and “holy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #655
- “hold” frequency rank
- #1,396
- “holy” frequency rank
- 2051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hold | holy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To grasp or grip. | Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god. |
Where the eye mixes hold and holy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hold with holy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hold is /həʊld/ while holy is /ˈhəʊli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “hold” becomes y in “holy”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hold is recorded at frequency rank #655, classified as averb, pronounced /həʊld/. holy is at rank #1,396, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhəʊli/.
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 2051, this pair ranks #525,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hold vs holy
Shared letters: hlo. Private to "hold": d. Private to "holy": y.
"hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "holy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hold" for "holy" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hold" or "holy" 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 "hold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "holy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #525,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hold" and "holy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Holtby vs holy". 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 #525,982 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.