Holler or hollow?
holler is a noun meaning “A yell, shout”; hollow is a noun meaning “A small valley between mountains”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) hollow is about 13 times as common as holler.
What is the difference between holler and hollow?
| holler | hollow | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, adjective | noun, verb, adjective, adverb, interjection |
| Meaning | A yell, shout colloquialAny communication to get somebody's attention To yell or shout | A small valley between mountains A sunken area on a surface to make a hole in something; to excavate |
| Example | I heard a holler from over the fence | He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies |
| Forms | hollers | hollows |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɒlə/ /ˈhɔlə/ /ˈhɑlɚ/ | /ˈhɒləʊ/ /ˈhɒlə/ /ˈhɔlo/ |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words | 8.9 times per million words |
Sources: holler and hollow in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of holler and hollow
holler
- 1
A yell, shout
I heard a holler from over the fence
- 2
To yell or shout
You can holler at your computer as much as you want, but it won't help anything
- 3
Alternative form of hollow (narrow valley between mountains)
- 4
Alternative form of hollow
the holler tree
- 5
colloquialAny communication to get somebody's attention
If you need anything, just give me a holler
- 6
To call out one or more words
- 7
A field holler
- 8
To complain, to gripe
hollow
- 1
A small valley between mountains
He built himself a cabin in a hollow high up in the Rockies
- 2
to make a hole in something; to excavate
- 3
Having an empty space or cavity inside
a hollow tree; a hollow sphere
- 4
colloquialCompletely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow
- 5
To call or urge by shouting; to hollo
- 6
Alternative form of hollo
- 7
A sunken area on a surface
He held the chick in the hollow of his hand
- 8
Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched
He let out a hollow moan
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, holler or hollow?
holler appears about once in every 1 million words; hollow 8.9 times per million words.
holler about once in every 1 million wordshollow 8.9 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search holler vs hollow?
“holler vs hollow” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“hollow vs holler”, “holler or hollow”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.