holy
/ˈhəʊli/
"holy" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“holy” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,396. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,396
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.
Corpus desk
Index EN-holy · holy · English
holy · rank #1,396 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,396
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH helped
Nearest frequency peer: helped (-1 rank slots)
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “holy”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- equipment
equipment
98,608 corpus weight
- eventually
eventually
98,607 corpus weight
- helped
helped
98,606 corpus weight
- holy
holy
98,605 corpus weight
- killing
killing
98,604 corpus weight
- lived
lived
98,603 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “holy” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | holy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhəʊli/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,396 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “holy” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around holy (IPA /ˈhəʊli/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #1,396 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for holy, with forms such as "hholy", "hloy", and "holyy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. 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 holi, hali, from Old English hāliġ, hāleġ (“holy, consecrated, sacred, venerated, godly, saintly, ecclesiastical, pacific, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailag, from Proto-Germanic *hailagaz (“holy, bringing health”), from … The correct English form is holy, spelled H-O-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.
- 2Revered in a religion.
- 3Morally perfect or flawless, or nearly so.
- 4Separated or set apart from (something unto something or someone else).
- 5Set apart or dedicated for a specific purpose, or for use by a single entity or person.
- 6Used as an intensifier in various interjections.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how holy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I'm planning to visit the holy city of Jerusalem this Christmas.
... where he and Basil read together poems and philosophies, and holier things, or talked low and misopogonistcally of their fellow-student Julian’s bearded boding smile were his happiest days.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English holi, hali, from Old English hāliġ, hāleġ (“holy, consecrated, sacred, venerated, godly, saintly, ecclesiastical, pacific, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailag, from Proto-Germanic *hailagaz (“holy, bringing health”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“healthy, whole”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”), equivalent to whole + -y and a doublet of later wholly. Cognate with Scots haly (“holy”), West Frisian hillich (“holy”), Low German hillig (“holy”), Dutch heilig (“holy”), German heilig (“holy”), Danish hellig (“holy”), Swedish helig (“holy”). More at whole.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hholy
- hloy
- holyy
- hoyl
- ohly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of holy - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
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 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "holy"?
What does "holy" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "holy"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "holy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "holy". Here's where to go from here.
- "holy" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "how". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,396 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.