Which to use
“holy” is an adjective and “hom” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,194
- “holy” frequency rank
- #33,723
- “hom” frequency rank
- 61917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | holy | hom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Saint, sainte. | Qui exprime le doute, la défiance. |
Where the eye mixes holy and hom
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. holy 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.
Why the eye confuses holy with hom
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: holy is \ˈhoʊ.li\ while hom is ^((h aspiré))\ɔm\. 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 (adjective vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
holy is recorded at frequency rank #28,194, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈhoʊ.li\. 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 61917, this pair ranks #89,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of holy vs hom
Shared letters: ho. Private to "holy": ly. Private to "hom": m.
"holy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hom" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- holy ← hholy · hloy · holyy · hoyl · ohly
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "holy" and "hom" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "holy" or "hom"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "holy" and "hom" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "holy" 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 #89,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "holy" and "hom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hom". 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 #89,763 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.