Which to use
“heals” and “heard” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,104
- “heals” frequency rank
- #542
- “heard” frequency rank
- 19646
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heals | heard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of heal | simple past and past participle of hear |
Where the eye mixes heals and heard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses heals with heard
A purely visual mix-up. heals (/hiːlz/) and heard (/ˈhɜːd/) 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 19646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heals is recorded at frequency rank #19,104, classified as averb, pronounced /hiːlz/. heard is at rank #542, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhɜːd/.
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 19646, this pair ranks #436,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heals vs heard
Shared letters: aeh. Private to "heals": ls. Private to "heard": dr.
"heals" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "heard" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heals" for "heard" ever safe?
Which is more common, "heals" or "heard"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "heals" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heals" and "heard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heals vs HMAS". 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 #436,711 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.