Which to use
“heaving” is a verb and “hemming” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,328
- “heaving” frequency rank
- #48,277
- “hemming” frequency rank
- 83605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heaving | hemming |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of heave | The act of saying "hem", in intermission or hesitation of speech. |
Letter map: heaving vs hemming
Shared letters muted; letters that set heaving and hemming apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. heaving (CVVCVCC) and hemming (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: heaving vs hemming
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: heaving is averb and hemminganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heaving is recorded at frequency rank #35,328, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhiːvɪŋ/. hemming is at rank #48,277, 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 83605, this pair ranks #13,456 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of heaving vs hemming
Shared letters: eghin. Private to "heaving": av. Private to "hemming": m.
"heaving" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "hemming" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "heaving" and "hemming" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "heaving" or "hemming" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "heaving" vs "hemming" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "heaving" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hemming" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,456 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heaving" and "hemming" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heaping vs hemming". 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 #13,456 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.