Which to use
“hole” is a noun and “whole” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,206
- “hole” frequency rank
- #333
- “whole” frequency rank
- 2539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hole | whole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure. | Entire, undivided. |
Same sound, different letters: hole vs whole
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: hole and whole carry the same recorded pronunciation, /həʊl/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hole” sits inside “whole”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2539, 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/. whole is at rank #333, tagged as anadj, 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 2539, this pair ranks #524,700 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hole vs whole
Shared letters: ehlo. Private to "hole": -. Private to "whole": w.
"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "whole" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV