headedvsheartedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: headed is a adjective, hearted is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“headed” is an adjective and “hearted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,736
“headed” frequency rank
#10,059
“hearted” frequency rank
12795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature headed hearted
Definition Of a sheet of paper: having the sender's name, address, etc. preprinted at the top. simple past and past participle of heart

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set headed and hearted apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
headed
7 ch
hearted

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

headed and hearted form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

headed is recorded at frequency rank #2,736, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛdɪd/. hearted is at rank #10,059, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhɑːtɪd/.

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 12795, this pair ranks #479,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

headed#2,736
hearted#10,059

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "headed" and "hearted" be used interchangeably?
No, "headed" and "hearted" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering headed vs hearted

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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