whole

/həʊl/

//həʊl// adj

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

"whole" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“whole” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #333 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.

#333
frequency rank, English
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Entire, undivided.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

whole vs woe
60% similar
whole vs whom
60% similar
whole vs wolf
60% similar

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

Key facts for whole
PropertyValue
Headwordwhole
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/həʊl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#333
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “whole” 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). whole 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 whole is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /həʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #333 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for whole, with forms such as "hwole", "whhole", and "whloe". 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, "woe", "whom", "wolf", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The spelling w… The correct English form is whole, spelled W-H-O-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Entire, undivided.
  2. 2
    Entire, undivided.
  3. 3
    Sound, uninjured, healthy.
  4. 4
    From which none of its constituents has been removed.
  5. 5
    As yet unworked.

Etymology

From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The spelling with wh-, attested since ca. 1400, represents an excrescent /w/, which developed in words with initial /(h)ɔː/, /(h)oː/ in southwestern dialects of Middle English. While this pronunciation did not establish itself in the standard language (except in one), the spelling survived in whole and whore, in the former case likely reinforced by a desire to disambiguate from hole. Cognates Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy.

This word in other languages

entero(Español)entier(Français)ganz(Deutsch)inteiro(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: hwole,whhole,whloe,whoel,wholle,wohle,wwhole

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

hwole2whhole1whloe2whoel2wholle1wohle2wwhole1
Edit distance from "whole"

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 "whole"?
"whole" is spelled W-H-O-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /həʊl/.
What does "whole" mean?
As an adjective, "whole" means: Entire, undivided.
What words are commonly confused with "whole"?
"whole" is commonly confused with "woe", "whom", "wolf". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "whole"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "whole" 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 "whole"?
From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The ... 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 “whole”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is W-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 “woe” - see the side-by-side comparison. whole vs woe
  • 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