Which to use
“headed” is an adjective and “heeled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,736
- “headed” frequency rank
- #33,270
- “heeled” frequency rank
- 36006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | headed | heeled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of a sheet of paper: having the sender's name, address, etc. preprinted at the top. | simple past and past participle of heel |
Where the eye mixes headed and heeled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between headed and heeled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: headed is /ˈhɛdɪd/ while heeled is /hiːld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36006, 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/. heeled is at rank #33,270, tagged as averb, pronounced /hiːld/.
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 36006, this pair ranks #307,024 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of headed vs heeled
Shared letters: deh. Private to "headed": a. Private to "heeled": l.
"headed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "heeled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "headed" for "heeled" ever safe?
Frequency check: "headed" vs "heeled" - 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 "headed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heeled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,024 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "headed" and "heeled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedged vs heeled". 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 #307,024 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.