he'd
/hiːd/contraction
he'd is spelled H-E-D: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a contraction, he'd means “Contraction of he + had” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in he'd?
| Letters | 3: H-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is he'd?
He'd appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce he'd?
- /hiːd/
He'd has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-he'd.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with he'd
Sounds like: heed (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does he'd mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
contraction
- 1
Contraction of he + had.
- 2
Contraction of he + would.
Near-synonym: he'd've
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).