holesvsholtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“holes” and “holt” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,949
“holes” frequency rank
#11,721
“holt” frequency rank
15670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature holes holt
Definition plural of hole A small piece of woodland or a woody hill; a copse.

Where the eye mixes holes and holt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
holes
4 ch
holt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. holes (/həʊlz/) and holt (/hɒlt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

holes is recorded at frequency rank #3,949, classified as anoun, pronounced /həʊlz/. holt is at rank #11,721, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɒlt/.

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 15670, this pair ranks #462,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of holes vs holt

Shared letters: hlo. Private to "holes": es. Private to "holt": t.

"holes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "holt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holeshholes · hloes · hoels · holess · holles · holse · ohles
  • holthholt · hlot · hollt · holtt · hotl · ohlt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "holes" and "holt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/həʊlz/ versus /hɒlt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "holes" or "holt"?
"holes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,949 in our English list, against #11,721 for "holt". 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