Which to use
“hear” and “held” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #588
- “hear” frequency rank
- #572
- “held” frequency rank
- 1160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hear | held |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To perceive sounds through the ear. | simple past and past participle of hold |
Where the eye mixes hear and held
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. hear (/ˈhɪə/) and held (/ˈhɛld/) 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 1160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hear is recorded at frequency rank #588, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhɪə/. held is at rank #572, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhɛld/.
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 1160, this pair ranks #527,975 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hear vs held
Shared letters: eh. Private to "hear": ar. Private to "held": dl.
"hear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC