Which to use
“holden” is a verb and “horde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,439
- “holden” frequency rank
- #21,541
- “horde” frequency rank
- 33980
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holden | horde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of hold | A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people (originally Tatars) migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. |
Letter map: holden vs horde
Shared letters muted; letters that set holden and horde apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. holden runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against horde's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: holden vs horde
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: holden is averb and hordeanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
holden is recorded at frequency rank #12,439, classified as averb. horde is at rank #21,541, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɔːd/.
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 33980, this pair ranks #324,691 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of holden vs horde
Shared letters: deho. Private to "holden": ln. Private to "horde": r.
"holden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "horde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "holden" for "horde" ever safe?
Frequency check: "holden" vs "horde" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "holden" and "horde". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "holden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "horde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,691 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "holden" and "horde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs horde". 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 #324,691 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.