Which to use
“withheld” is an adjective and “withhold” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,224
- “withheld” frequency rank
- #20,269
- “withhold” frequency rank
- 38493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | withheld | withhold |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That has been kept or held back from the possession or knowledge of another. | To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner. |
Where the eye mixes withheld and withhold
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. withheld and withhold follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between withheld and withhold
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: withheld is /wɪθˈhɛld/ while withhold is /wɪθˈhəʊld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “withheld” becomes o in “withhold”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
withheld is recorded at frequency rank #18,224, classified as anadj, pronounced /wɪθˈhɛld/. withhold is at rank #20,269, tagged as averb, pronounced /wɪθˈhəʊld/.
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 38493, this pair ranks #285,441 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of withheld vs withhold
Shared letters: dhiltw. Private to "withheld": e. Private to "withhold": o.
"withheld" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC · "withhold" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "withheld" and "withhold" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "withheld" or "withhold"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "withheld" and "withhold" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "withheld" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "withhold" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,441 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #285,441 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.