heardvsheartsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“heard” and “hearts” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,826
“heard” frequency rank
#27,341
“hearts” frequency rank
63167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heard hearts
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs hear 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heart

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set heard and hearts apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
heard
6 ch
hearts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

heard and hearts are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heard is recorded at frequency rank #35,826, classified as averb, pronounced [hɜːd]. hearts is at rank #27,341, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 63167, this pair ranks #686,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heard vs hearts

Shared letters: aehr. Private to "heard": d. Private to "hearts": st.

"heard" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "hearts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heardehard · haerd · headr · heardd · hearrd · herad · hheard
  • heartseharts · haerts · hearrts · hearst · heartss · heartts · heatrs · herats

Frequency comparison

heard#35,826
hearts#27,341

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heard" and "hearts" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "heard" or "hearts"?
"hearts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,341 in our German list, against #35,826 for "heard". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering heard vs hearts

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 “heard” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list