heilvshurlWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,882
“heil” frequency rank
#32,438
“hurl” frequency rank
71320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heil hurl
Definition To greet with a Sieg Heil. To throw (something) with force.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
heil
4 ch
hurl

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. heil (/haɪl/) and hurl (/hɜːl/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heil is recorded at frequency rank #38,882, classified as averb, pronounced /haɪl/. hurl is at rank #32,438, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɜːl/.

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 71320, this pair ranks #47,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of heil vs hurl

Shared letters: hl. Private to "heil": ei. Private to "hurl": ru.

"heil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hurl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heilehil · heill · hheil · hiel
  • hurlhhurl · hrul · hulr · hurll · hurrl · uhrl

Frequency comparison

heil#38,882
hurl#32,438

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heil" and "hurl" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/haɪl/ versus /hɜːl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "heil" or "hurl"?
"hurl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,438 in our English list, against #38,882 for "heil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering heil vs hurl

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 “heil” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list