Which to use
“hold” is an adjective and “holder” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,383
- “hold” frequency rank
- #44,493
- “holder” frequency rank
- 60876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hold | holder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gracieux. | Détenteur (dans le domaine financier, en particulier). |
Where the eye mixes hold and holder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hold vs holder
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hold is \hɔlt\ while holder is \ɔl.dœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “hold” sits inside “holder”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hold is recorded at frequency rank #16,383, classified as anadj, pronounced \hɔlt\. holder is at rank #44,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔl.dœʁ\.
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 60876, this pair ranks #95,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hold vs holder
Shared letters: dhlo. Private to "hold": -. Private to "holder": er.
"hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "holder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hold" and "holder" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "hold" or "holder" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hold" and "holder" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "holder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hold" and "holder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Haller vs holder". 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 #95,313 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.