Which to use
“healed” and “hurled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,896
- “healed” frequency rank
- #26,121
- “hurled” frequency rank
- 38017
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | healed | hurled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of heal | simple past and past participle of hurl |
Where the eye mixes healed and hurled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. healed (CVVCVC) and hurled (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses healed with hurled
A purely visual mix-up. healed (/hiːld/) and hurled (/hɜːld/) 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 38017, 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/. hurled is at rank #26,121, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɜːld/.
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 38017, this pair ranks #289,564 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of healed vs hurled
Shared letters: dehl. Private to "healed": a. Private to "hurled": ru.
"healed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "hurled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "healed" and "hurled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "healed" vs "hurled" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "healed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hurled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #289,564 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "healed" and "hurled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hued vs hurled". 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 #289,564 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.