# holm

> English word · Noun · IPA /həʊm/ · frequency rank #34,526

## Definitions
1. Small island, islet.
2. An island in a lake, river or estuary; an eyot.
3. Any small island, but especially one near a larger island or the mainland, sometimes with holly bushes; an islet, often in Norse-influenced place-names.
4. Rich flat land near a river, prone to flooding.

## Etymology
From Middle English holm, holme, from Old English holm (“wave, ocean, water, sea, islet”) and Old Norse holmr, holmi (“islet”), both from the Proto-Germanic *hulmaz (“rising ground, hill, island”), from Proto-Indo-European root *kelH- (“to rise, be elevated, be prominent; hill”).
Cognate with Old Saxon holm, Middle Low German holm, German Holm, Middle Dutch holm, Danish holm, Swedish holme, Norwegian Bokmål holme, Icelandic hólmur.

## Easily confused with
- **how** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-how)
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hot)
- **hop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hop)
- **hon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hon)
- **hum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hum)
- **hoo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hoo)
- **Hou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hou)
- **hoy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hoy)
- **hos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hos)
- **Hom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hom)
- **hrm** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hrm)
- **hor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hor)
- **HOV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hov)
- **home** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-home)
- **hope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hope)
- **hour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hour)
- **holy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-holy)
- **host** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-host)
- **hong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hong)
- **hook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/holm-vs-hook)

## Common misspellings (6)
`hholm`, `hlom`, `hollm`, `holmm`, `homl`, `ohlm`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/holm