holevshueleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hole is a noun, huele is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hole” is a noun and “huele” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,943
“hole” frequency rank
#6,069
“huele” frequency rank
37012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole huele
Definition Agujero, hoyo. Persona más hábil en el uso de su mano izquierda que en el de la derecha.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hole and huele apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hole
5 ch
huele

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hole is /həʊl/ while huele is [ˈ(ɣ̞)w̝ele]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37012, 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/. huele is at rank #6,069, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈ(ɣ̞)w̝ele].

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 37012, this pair ranks #177,602 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs huele

Shared letters: ehl. Private to "hole": o. Private to "huele": u.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "huele" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle
  • hueleheule · hhuele · hueel · huelle · hulee · uhele

Frequency comparison

hole#30,943
huele#6,069

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "huele" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hole" is a noun and "huele" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hole" or "huele"?
"huele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,069 in our Spanish list, against #30,943 for "hole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hole vs huele

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “hole”; for an adjective, it's “huele”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hole” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list