Which to use
“healed” and “hedged” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,896
- “healed” frequency rank
- #49,386
- “hedged” frequency rank
- 61282
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | healed | hedged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of heal | simple past and past participle of hedge |
Where the eye mixes healed and hedged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between healed and hedged
A purely visual mix-up. healed (/hiːld/) and hedged (/hɛd͡ʒd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
healed is recorded at frequency rank #11,896, classified as averb, pronounced /hiːld/. hedged is at rank #49,386, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɛd͡ʒd/.
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 61282, this pair ranks #95,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of healed vs hedged
Shared letters: deh. Private to "healed": al. Private to "hedged": g.
"healed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "hedged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "healed" and "hedged" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "healed" vs "hedged" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "healed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hedged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,141 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "healed" and "hedged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedged vs heeded". 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 #95,141 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.