bolthole
"bolthole" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bolthole” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hole in an animal’s den, or through a wall or fence, used for escape or emergency exit, i.e., a hole the animal may bolt through.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bolthole · bolthole · English
bolthole · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bolthole |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bolthole” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bolthole is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
bolthole has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From bolt + hole. The correct English form is bolthole, spelled B-O-L-T-H-O-L-E.
Definition
- 1A hole in an animal’s den, or through a wall or fence, used for escape or emergency exit, i.e., a hole the animal may bolt through.
- 2A hidden place of emergency refuge.
- 3A second home, etc., where one can seek an escape or refuge from the stresses of everyday life.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bolthole appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Eragon: They may try to slip past us and escape Helgrind through the entrance we used. Saphira: They probably have a bolt-hole at ground level.
There was a guard at the front doors. He was smoking a cigarette; she'd seen the light from a great distance. They'd grown incautious in the absence of her continual raids, probably imagining she'd died of some viral infection alone in one of the countless caves ringing the forest. She'd seen their hunting parties canvassing the area, had prepared a few e…
Etymology
From bolt + hole.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.