Which to use
“holed” is a verb and “hotbed” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,497
- “holed” frequency rank
- #44,260
- “hotbed” frequency rank
- 71757
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holed | hotbed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of hole | A low bed of earth covered with glass, and heated with rotting manure, used for the germination of seeds and the growth of tender plants, like a miniature hothouse. |
Letter map: holed vs hotbed
Shared letters muted; letters that set holed and hotbed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. holed runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against hotbed's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: holed vs hotbed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: holed is averb and hotbedanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
holed is recorded at frequency rank #27,497, classified as averb, pronounced /hoʊld/. hotbed is at rank #44,260, tagged as anoun.
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 71757, this pair ranks #45,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of holed vs hotbed
Shared letters: deho. Private to "holed": l. Private to "hotbed": bt.
"holed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hotbed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "holed" for "hotbed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "holed" vs "hotbed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "holed" vs "hotbed" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "holed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hotbed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "holed" and "hotbed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hobbled vs hotbed". 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 #45,531 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.