hold water
"hold-water" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hold water” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To withstand scrutiny or criticism; to be valid.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hold water |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hold water” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hold water is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To withstand scrutiny or criticism; to be valid.".
Zero misspellings are on record for hold water in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly from Jeremiah 2:13. The correct English form is hold water, spelled H-O-L-D- -W-A-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1To withstand scrutiny or criticism; to be valid.
Etymology
Possibly from Jeremiah 2:13.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hold water"?
What does "hold water" mean?
What is the origin of the word "hold water"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “hold water”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-D- -W-A-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.