holevshseConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#2,206
“hole” frequency rank
#36,606
“hse” frequency rank
38812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole hse
Definition A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure. A gender-neutral pronoun.

Letter map: hole vs hse

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

4 ch
hole
3 ch
hse

Role in the sentence - hole and hse

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hole is anoun and hseapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38812, 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/. hse is at rank #36,606, tagged as apron.

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 38812, this pair ranks #282,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs hse

Shared letters: eh. Private to "hole": lo. Private to "hse": s.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hse" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "hse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hole" is a noun and "hse" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hole" vs "hse" - which ranks higher?
"hole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,206 in our English list, against #36,606 for "hse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "hole" and "hse".

  • Full dictionary entry for "hole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hole" and "hse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hoke vs hse". 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 #282,484 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list