headervsheavierTell them apart

Quick tell: header is a noun, heavier is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“header” is a noun and “heavier” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,552
“header” frequency rank
#8,942
“heavier” frequency rank
17494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature header heavier
Definition The upper portion of a page (or other) layout. comparative form of heavy: more heavy

Where the eye mixes header and heavier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. header runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against heavier's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
header
7 ch
heavier

Look-alike desk: header vs heavier

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: header is /ˈhɛdɚ/ while heavier is /ˈhɛviɚ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

header is recorded at frequency rank #8,552, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛdɚ/. heavier is at rank #8,942, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛviɚ/.

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 17494, this pair ranks #451,071 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of header vs heavier

Shared letters: aehr. Private to "header": d. Private to "heavier": iv.

"header" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "heavier" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • header ← ehader · haeder · headder · headerr · headre · heaedr · hedaer · hheader
  • heavier ← ehavier · haevier · heaiver · heaveir · heavierr · heavire · heavvier · hevaier

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "header" and "heavier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "header" is a noun and "heavier" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "header" or "heavier" show up more?
"header" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,552 in our English list, against #8,942 for "heavier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "header" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "heavier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #451,071 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "header" and "heavier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "header vs Heaney". 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 #451,071 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