Which to use
“heats” is a verb and “hefty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,931
- “heats” frequency rank
- #18,096
- “hefty” frequency rank
- 35027
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heats | hefty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of heat | With heft; heavy, strong, vigorous, mighty, impressive |
Where the eye mixes heats and hefty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: heats vs hefty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heats is /hiːts/ while hefty is /ˈhɛfti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heats is recorded at frequency rank #16,931, classified as averb, pronounced /hiːts/. hefty is at rank #18,096, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈhɛfti/.
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 35027, this pair ranks #315,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heats vs hefty
Shared letters: eht. Private to "heats": as. Private to "hefty": fy.
"heats" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "hefty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heats" for "hefty" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "heats" or "hefty" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "heats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hefty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heats" and "hefty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hefty vs Henny". 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 #315,533 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.