hole vs homem, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,052
“hole” frequency rank: #247
“homem” frequency rank: 26299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hole	homem
Definition	buraco	pessoa do sexo ou gênero masculino, geralmente, mas não exclusivamente, adulta

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

hole

5 ch

homem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hole (/hoʊl/) and homem (/ˈɔm/) 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 26299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hole is recorded at frequency rank #26,052, classified as anoun, pronounced /hoʊl/. homem is at rank #247, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɔm/.

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 26299, this pair ranks #42,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hole vs homem

Shared letters: eho. Private to "hole": l. Private to "homem": m.

"hole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "homem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

hole ← hhole · hloe · hoel · holle · ohle
homem ← hhomem · hmoem · hoemm · homemm · homme · hommem · ohmem

Frequency comparison

hole#26,052

homem#247

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hole" and "homem" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/hoʊl/ versus /ˈɔm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "hole" or "homem"?

"homem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #247 in our Portuguese list, against #26,052 for "hole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hole vs homem

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