hed vs heel, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hed” and “heel” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,253
“hed” frequency rank: #9,052
“heel” frequency rank: 53305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hed	heel
Definition	The headline of a news story.	The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hed and heel apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

hed

4 ch

heel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

hed and heel are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hed is recorded at frequency rank #44,253, classified as anoun. heel is at rank #9,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hiːl/.

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 53305, this pair ranks #150,050 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hed vs heel

Shared letters: eh. Private to "hed": d. Private to "heel": l.

"hed" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

heel ← ehel · heell · hele · hheel

Frequency comparison

hed#44,253

heel#9,052

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hed" and "heel" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "hed" or "heel"?

"heel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,052 in our English list, against #44,253 for "hed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hed vs heel

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hed” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable