Which to use
“holes” and “hooves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,949
- “holes” frequency rank
- #32,033
- “hooves” frequency rank
- 35982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holes | hooves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hole | plural of hoof |
Where the eye mixes holes and hooves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: holes vs hooves
A purely visual mix-up. holes (/həʊlz/) and hooves (/hʊvz/) 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 35982, 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/. hooves is at rank #32,033, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hʊvz/.
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 35982, this pair ranks #307,233 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of holes vs hooves
Shared letters: ehos. Private to "holes": l. Private to "hooves": v.
"holes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hooves" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "holes" and "hooves" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "holes" vs "hooves" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "holes" and "hooves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "holes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hooves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,233 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "holes" and "hooves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hooters vs hooves". 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 #307,233 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.