heavshodConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#44,248
“hea” frequency rank
#49,395
“hod” frequency rank
93643
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hea hod
Definition Alternative spelling of hea'. To bob up and down on horseback, as an inexperienced rider may do; to jog.

Letter map: hea vs hod

Shared letters muted; letters that set hea and hod apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. hea (CVV) and hod (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
hea
3 ch
hod

Role in the sentence - hea and hod

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hea is anoun and hodaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hea is recorded at frequency rank #44,248, classified as anoun. hod is at rank #49,395, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɒd/.

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 93643, this pair ranks #1,779 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hea vs hod

Shared letters: h. Private to "hea": ae. Private to "hod": do.

"hea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hod" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hea" for "hod" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hea" is a noun and "hod" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hea" or "hod"?
"hea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,248 in our English list, against #49,395 for "hod". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "hea" and "hod". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hod" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,779 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hea" and "hod" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hod vs hoke". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,779 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list