hereofvsheresyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hereof is a adverb, heresy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hereof” is an adverb and “heresy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,673
“hereof” frequency rank
#18,334
“heresy” frequency rank
66007
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hereof heresy
Definition Of this; concerning this. A doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance or conflict with established religious beliefs.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hereof and heresy apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
hereof
6 ch
heresy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hereof is /hɪəˈɹɒv/ while heresy is /ˈhɛɹəsi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hereof is recorded at frequency rank #47,673, classified as anadv, pronounced /hɪəˈɹɒv/. heresy is at rank #18,334, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛɹəsi/.

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 66007, this pair ranks #70,066 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hereof vs heresy

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "hereof": fo. Private to "heresy": sy.

"hereof" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "heresy" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hereofehreof · heerof · herefo · hereoff · heroef · herreof · hhereof · hreeof
  • heresyehresy · heersy · heressy · heresyy · hereys · herresy · hersey · hheresy

Frequency comparison

hereof#47,673
heresy#18,334

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hereof" and "heresy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hereof" is an adverb and "heresy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hereof" or "heresy"?
"heresy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,334 in our English list, against #47,673 for "hereof". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hereof vs heresy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “hereof”; for a noun, it's “heresy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hereof” 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