holtvshouWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: holt is a verb, hou is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“holt” is a verb and “hou” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,350
“holt” frequency rank
#26,040
“hou” frequency rank
51390
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature holt hou
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’impératif à la forme active de holen. Suppose le cri d’un fantôme.

Where the eye mixes holt and hou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
holt
3 ch
hou

Visual trap between holt and hou

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: holt is \hoːlt\ while hou is ^((h aspiré))\u\. 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 (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

holt is recorded at frequency rank #25,350, classified as averb, pronounced \hoːlt\. hou is at rank #26,040, tagged as anintj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\u\.

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 51390, this pair ranks #155,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of holt vs hou

Shared letters: ho. Private to "holt": lt. Private to "hou": u.

"holt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • holthholt · hlot · hollt · holtt · hotl · ohlt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "holt" for "hou" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "holt" is a verb and "hou" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "holt" vs "hou" - which ranks higher?
"holt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,350 in our French list, against #26,040 for "hou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "holt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "holt" and "hou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hou". 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 #155,357 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