hold vs hos, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hold” is a verb and “hos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#655
“hold” frequency rank: #31,601
“hos” frequency rank: 32256
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hold	hos
Definition	To grasp or grip.	plural of ho

Letter map: hold vs hos

Shared letters muted; letters that set hold and hos apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch

hold

3 ch

hos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hold is averb and hosanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hold is recorded at frequency rank #655, classified as averb, pronounced /həʊld/. hos is at rank #31,601, tagged as anoun.

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 32256, this pair ranks #339,383 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hold vs hos

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hold": dl. Private to "hos": s.

"hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

hold ← hhold · hlod · hodl · holdd · holld · ohld

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hold" and "hos" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hold" is a verb and "hos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "hold" or "hos"?

"hold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #655 in our English list, against #31,601 for "hos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "hold" and "hos". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "hold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "hos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #339,383 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"hold" and "hos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs hos". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.