havevsholeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: have is a verb, hole is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“have” is a verb and “hole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,419
“have” frequency rank
#26,052
“hole” frequency rank
33471
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature have hole
Definition ter, possuir buraco

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set have and hole apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
have
4 ch
hole

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: have is averb and holeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

have is recorded at frequency rank #7,419, classified as averb. hole is at rank #26,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hoʊl/.

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 33471, this pair ranks #34,047 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of have vs hole

Shared letters: eh. Private to "have": av. Private to "hole": lo.

"have" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haveahve · haev · havve · hhave · hvae
  • holehhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle

Frequency comparison

have#7,419
hole#26,052

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "have" and "hole" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "have" is a verb and "hole" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "have" or "hole"?
"have" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,419 in our Portuguese list, against #26,052 for "hole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering have vs hole

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “have”; for a noun, it's “hole”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “have” 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