holevshonteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,986
“hole” frequency rank
#2,083
“honte” frequency rank
31069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hole honte
Definition Trou. Déshonneur, opprobre, humiliation (ce qui est le sens étymologique et ancien).

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
hole
5 ch
honte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hole (\ˈhoʊl\) and honte (^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\) 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 31069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hole is recorded at frequency rank #28,986, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈhoʊl\. honte is at rank #2,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\.

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 31069, this pair ranks #306,181 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs honte

Shared letters: eho. Private to "hole": l. Private to "honte": nt.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "honte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle
  • hontehhonte · hnote · honet · honnte · hontte · hotne · ohnte

Frequency comparison

hole#28,986
honte#2,083

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "honte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈhoʊl\ versus ^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hole" or "honte"?
"honte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,083 in our French list, against #28,986 for "hole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hole vs honte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list