headervsherderWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“header” and “herder” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,552
“header” frequency rank
#41,171
“herder” frequency rank
49723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature header herder
Definition The upper portion of a page (or other) layout. One who herds.

Where the eye mixes header and herder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
header
6 ch
herder

Visual trap between header and herder

A purely visual mix-up. header (/ˈhɛdɚ/) and herder (/ˈhɜːdə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “header” becomes r in “herder”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49723, 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/. herder is at rank #41,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɜːdə/.

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 49723, this pair ranks #180,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of header vs herder

Shared letters: dehr. Private to "header": a. Private to "herder": -.

"header" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "herder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • headerehader · haeder · headder · headerr · headre · heaedr · hedaer · hheader
  • herderehrder · hedrer · herdder · herderr · herdre · heredr · herrder · hherder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "header" and "herder" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈhɛdɚ/ versus /ˈhɜːdə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "header" vs "herder" - which ranks higher?
"header" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,552 in our English list, against #41,171 for "herder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "header" and "herder" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "header" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "herder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "header" and "herder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "herder vs Hodder". 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 #180,964 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