Which to use
“hold” and “hole” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,098
- “hold” frequency rank
- #26,052
- “hole” frequency rank
- 39150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hold | hole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lua, satélite natural da Terra | buraco |
Where the eye mixes hold and hole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hold vs hole
A purely visual mix-up. hold (/ˈhold/) and hole (/hoʊl/) 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 a single letter - d in “hold” becomes e in “hole”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hold is recorded at frequency rank #13,098, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhold/. 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 39150, this pair ranks #27,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hold vs hole
Shared letters: hlo. Private to "hold": d. Private to "hole": e.
"hold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hold" and "hole" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hold" vs "hole" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hold" and "hole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hebe vs hole". 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 #27,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.