Which to use
“holden” is a verb and “hole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,439
- “holden” frequency rank
- #2,206
- “hole” frequency rank
- 14645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holden | hole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of hold | A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure. |
Letter map: holden vs hole
Shared letters muted; letters that set holden and hole apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. holden runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hole's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - holden and hole
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: holden is averb and holeanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
holden is recorded at frequency rank #12,439, classified as averb. hole is at rank #2,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced /həʊl/.
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 14645, this pair ranks #468,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of holden vs hole
Shared letters: ehlo. Private to "holden": dn. Private to "hole": -.
"holden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "holden" and "hole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "holden" vs "hole" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "holden" and "hole". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "holden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #468,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "holden" and "hole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holden vs Holton". 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 #468,795 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.