Which to use
“holds” and “hours” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,488
- “holds” frequency rank
- #388
- “hours” frequency rank
- 2876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holds | hours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hold | plural of hour |
Where the eye mixes holds and hours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. holds (/həʊldz/) and hours (/ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
holds is recorded at frequency rank #2,488, classified as anoun, pronounced /həʊldz/. hours is at rank #388, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊə(ɹ)z/.
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 2876, this pair ranks #523,774 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of holds vs hours
Shared letters: hos. Private to "holds": dl. Private to "hours": ru.
"holds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "hours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC