hole

/həʊl/

//həʊl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"hole" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hole” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,206 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,206
frequency rank, English
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hole vs how
50% similar
hole vs hot
50% similar
hole vs hop
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for hole
PropertyValue
Headwordhole
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/həʊl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,206
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hole” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). hole lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for hole is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /həʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,206 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for hole, with forms such as "hhole", "hloe", and "hoel". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "how", "hot", "hop", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of unc… The correct English form is hole, spelled H-O-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
  2. 2
    An opening that goes all the way through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent.
  3. 3
    In games.
  4. 4
    In games.
  5. 5
    In games.
  6. 6
    In games.
  7. 7
    In games.
  8. 8
    In games.
  9. 9
    An excavation pit or trench.
  10. 10
    A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
  11. 11
    In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
  12. 12
    A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
  13. 13
    A person's mouth.
  14. 14
    Any bodily orifice, in particular the anus.
  15. 15
    A vagina.
  16. 16
    Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.
  17. 17
    An undesirable place to live or visit.
  18. 18
    Difficulty, in particular, debt.
  19. 19
    A chordless cycle in a graph.
  20. 20
    A passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other.
  21. 21
    A mountain valley.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow. Cognate with Dutch, Faroese, and Icelandic hol (“hole”), Danish hul (“hole”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norn hola (“hole”), Norwegian Bokmål hol (“depression, hole, cavern”), Swedish hål (“hole”), French houle (“swell of water”). Compare unrelated Finnish kolo (“hole”).

Synonyms

administrative segregationad-segblockboxcoolerhotboxlockdownpoundSCUsecurity housing unitSHUspecial handling unithole

This word in other languages

agujero(Español)creux(Français)Loch(Deutsch)buraco(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: hhole,hloe,hoel,holle,ohle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hole - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

hhole1hloe2hoel2holle1ohle2
Edit distance from "hole"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hole"?
"hole" is spelled H-O-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /həʊl/.
What does "hole" mean?
As a noun, "hole" means: A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
What words are commonly confused with "hole"?
"hole" is commonly confused with "how", "hot", "hop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hole"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hole" is /həʊl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "hole"?
Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “hole”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /həʊl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “how” - see the side-by-side comparison. hole vs how
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list