# hereditary vs heredity

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### hereditary
*adjective · IPA /həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi/ · frequency rank #15,185*
Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.

### heredity
*noun · IPA /hɪˈɹɛdɪti/ · frequency rank #48,797*
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.

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