Which to use
“half” and “hole” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,520
- “half” frequency rank
- #30,943
- “hole” frequency rank
- 55463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | half | hole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mitad. | Agujero, hoyo. |
Where the eye mixes half and hole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. half (CVCC) and hole (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between half and hole
A purely visual mix-up. half (/hɑːf/) and hole (/həʊl/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
half is recorded at frequency rank #24,520, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɑːf/. hole is at rank #30,943, tagged as anoun, pronounced /həʊl/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 55463, this pair ranks #78,772 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of half vs hole
Shared letters: hl. Private to "half": af. Private to "hole": eo.
"half" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "half" and "hole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "half" or "hole" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "half" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,772 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "half" and "hole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holder vs hole". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #78,772 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.