hold
/həʊld/verb, noun
hold is spelled H-O-L-D. The wrong spelling people search most is holf: about 120 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 34 of all searches for the word. Hold is a verb meaning “To grasp or grip”.
How many letters and syllables are in hold?
| Letters | 4: H-O-L-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 155 times per million words; the 657th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, holf, about 120 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell hold?
Hold is spelled H-O-L-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 34 of the searches for hold in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is hold?
Hold appears 155 times per million words in written English, the 657th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hold?
- UK /həʊld/
- UK [hɒʊɫd]
- British /hɔwld/
Hold has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hold.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with hold
Sounds like: holed (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with hold?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as hold from its last stressed vowel (/əʊld/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dhol, hodl.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of hold
- holds present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- holding participle, present
- held past, participle
- more hold comparative
- most hold superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hold mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To grasp or grip.
Hold the pencil like this.
- 2
To contain or store.
This package holds six bottles.
- 3
To have and keep possession of something.
Hold my coat for me.
- 4
To reserve.
Hold a table for us at 7:00.
- 5
To cause to wait or delay.
Hold the elevator.
- 6
To halt or delay (medication) temporarily.
- 7
To detain.
Hold the suspect in this cell.
- 8
To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person).
to hold true
noun
- 1
A grasp or grip.
Keep a firm hold on the handlebars.
- 2
An act or instance of holding.
Can I have a hold of the baby?
- 3
A place where animals are held for safety
- 4
An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with.
Senator X placed a hold on the bill, then went to the library and placed a hold on a book.
- 5
Something reserved or kept.
We have a hold here for you.
- 6
Power over someone or something.
The fad has gained a sure hold on every teenager.
- 7
The ability to persist.
- 8
The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair.
- 9
The cargo area of a ship or aircraft (often holds or cargo hold).
We watched our luggage being loaded into the hold of the plane.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteGracious; friendly; faithful; true.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hold in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tenir , contenir , garder , retenir , soute, cale |
| German | halten , Frachtraum, Laderaum , gelten , austragen, abhalten |
| Portuguese | segurar, pegar , aguentar, ter, conter , porão |
| Spanish | aguantar, sujetar , detentar (illegitimately) , bodega , agarre , presa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hold come from?
Derived from Middle English holden, derived from Old English healdan, derived from Proto-West Germanic *haldan, derived from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to tend, herd”), maybe derived from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Doublet of halt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).