holàvshomConfusable pair

Which to use

“holà” and “hom” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,841
“holà” frequency rank
#33,723
“hom” frequency rank
72564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature holà hom
Definition Cri que les charretiers poussaient pour faire arrêter leurs chevaux. Qui exprime le doute, la défiance.

Where the eye mixes holà and hom

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. holà runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hom's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
holà
3 ch
hom

Look-alike desk: holà vs hom

A purely visual mix-up. holà (^((h aspiré))\ɔ.la\) and hom (^((h aspiré))\ɔm\) 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 72564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

holà is recorded at frequency rank #38,841, classified as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔ.la\. hom is at rank #33,723, tagged as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔm\.

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 72564, this pair ranks #43,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of holà vs hom

Shared letters: ho. Private to "holà": là. Private to "hom": m.

"holà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "holà" for "hom" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (^((h aspiré))\ɔ.la\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "holà" or "hom"?
"hom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,723 in our French list, against #38,841 for "holà". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "holà" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "holà" and "hom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holà vs Houda". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #43,561 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list