headersvsheadlessWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,779
“headers” frequency rank
#28,576
“headless” frequency rank
53355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature headers headless
Definition plural of header Without a head (body part).

Where the eye mixes headers and headless

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
headers
8 ch
headless

Look-alike desk: headers vs headless

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: headers is /ˈhɛ.dəz/ while headless is /ˈhɛdləs/. 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 53355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

headers is recorded at frequency rank #24,779, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛ.dəz/. headless is at rank #28,576, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛdləs/.

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 53355, this pair ranks #149,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of headers vs headless

Shared letters: adehs. Private to "headers": r. Private to "headless": l.

"headers" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "headless" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • headersehaders · haeders · headders · headerrs · headerss · headesr · headres · heaedrs
  • headlessehadless · haedless · headdless · headelss · headles · headlless · headlses · healdess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "headers" for "headless" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "headers" is a noun and "headless" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "headers" vs "headless" - which ranks higher?
"headers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,779 in our English list, against #28,576 for "headless". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "headers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "headless" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #149,680 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "headers" and "headless" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "headdress vs headless". 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 #149,680 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