holevshongWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hole is a noun, hong is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,206
“hole” frequency rank
#2,838
“hong” frequency rank
5044
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole hong
Definition A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure. past of hang

Letter map: hole vs hong

Shared letters muted; letters that set hole and hong apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
hole
4 ch
hong

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hole is anoun and hongaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hole is recorded at frequency rank #2,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /həʊl/. hong is at rank #2,838, tagged as averb.

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 5044, this pair ranks #516,780 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs hong

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hole": el. Private to "hong": gn.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle
  • honghhong · hnog · hogn · hongg · honng · ohng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "hong" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hole" is a noun and "hong" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hole" or "hong"?
"hole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,206 in our English list, against #2,838 for "hong". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list