# heaving vs hemming

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### heaving
*verb · IPA /ˈhiːvɪŋ/ · frequency rank #35,328*
present participle and gerund of heave

### hemming
*noun · frequency rank #48,277*
The act of saying "hem", in intermission or hesitation of speech.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heaving-vs-hemming