holevshotelTell them apart

Which to use

“hole” and “hotel” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,943
“hole” frequency rank
#1,380
“hotel” frequency rank
32323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole hotel
Definition Agujero, hoyo. Palabra clave radiofónica del ICAO y NATO para la letra H.

Where the eye mixes hole and hotel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hole runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hotel's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
hole
5 ch
hotel

Why the eye confuses hole with hotel

A purely visual mix-up. hole (/həʊl/) and hotel ([hoˈtɛl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hole is recorded at frequency rank #30,943, classified as anoun, pronounced /həʊl/. hotel is at rank #1,380, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hoˈtɛl].

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 32323, this pair ranks #202,571 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs hotel

Shared letters: ehlo. Private to "hole": -. Private to "hotel": t.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hotel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hole ← hhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle
  • hotel ← hhotel · hoetl · hotell · hotle · hottel · htoel · ohtel

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "hotel" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/həʊl/ versus [hoˈtɛl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hole" or "hotel"?
"hotel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,380 in our Spanish list, against #30,943 for "hole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "hole" and "hotel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hotel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,571 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hole" and "hotel" 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 #202,571 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list