Which to use
“heard” is a verb and “hed” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #542
- “heard” frequency rank
- #44,253
- “hed” frequency rank
- 44795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heard | hed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of hear | The headline of a news story. |
Letter map: heard vs hed
Shared letters muted; letters that set heard and hed apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Grammar separator: heard vs hed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: heard is averb and hedanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heard is recorded at frequency rank #542, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhɜːd/. hed is at rank #44,253, tagged as anoun.
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 44795, this pair ranks #227,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heard vs hed
Shared letters: deh. Private to "heard": ar. Private to "hed": -.
"heard" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "hed" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- heard ← ehard · haerd · headr · heardd · hearrd · herad · hheard
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "heard" and "hed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "heard" or "hed"?
What to do next
Pair "heard" vs "hed" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "heard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heard" and "hed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hed vs HRW". 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 #227,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.