Which to use
“hereditary” is an adjective and “heredity” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,185
- “hereditary” frequency rank
- #48,797
- “heredity” frequency rank
- 63982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hereditary | heredity |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate. | Hereditary transmission of the physical and genetic qualities of parents to their offspring; the biological law by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics in their descendants. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hereditary and heredity apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
hereditary and heredity form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hereditary is recorded at frequency rank #15,185, classified as anadj, pronounced /həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi/. heredity is at rank #48,797, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪˈɹɛdɪti/.
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 63982, this pair ranks #80,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hereditary" and "heredity" be used interchangeably?
Remembering hereditary vs heredity
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hereditary”; for a noun, it's “heredity”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hereditary” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable