health

/hɛlθ/

//hɛlθ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"health" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“health” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #345. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#345
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness.

Corpus desk

Index EN-health · health · English

health · rank #345 · 9 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #345
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH games

Nearest frequency peer: games (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “health”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “health” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

health vs heat
67% similar
health vs heart
67% similar
health vs heath
83% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for health
PropertyValue
Headwordhealth
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hɛlθ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#345
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “health”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).healthlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “games” (#344), “hope” (#346), “course” (#343). Among 2,646 “H” headwords, “health” is #345. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around health (IPA /hɛlθ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #345 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for health, with forms such as "ehalth", "haelth", and "healht". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "heat", "heart", "heath", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English helthe, from Old English hǣlþ, from Proto-West Germanic *hailiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hailiþō, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, hale”). Cognate with Old High German heilida. Analyzable as whole, hale, or heal + -th (abstra… The correct English form is health, spelled H-E-A-L-T-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness.
  2. 2
    A state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social; the overall level of function of an organism from the cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level.
  3. 3
    Physical condition.
  4. 4
    Cure, remedy.
  5. 5
    A toast to prosperity.
  6. 6
    The amount of damage an in-game object can withstand before it is destroyed.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how health appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Her mental health is really affected by stressful environments.
  2. My granpa still enjoys very good health.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English helthe, from Old English hǣlþ, from Proto-West Germanic *hailiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hailiþō, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, hale”). Cognate with Old High German heilida. Analyzable as whole, hale, or heal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). More at heal. Doublet of wholth.

This word in other languages

salud(Español)santé(Français)Gesundheit(Deutsch)saúde(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ehalth
  • haelth
  • healht
  • heallth
  • healthh
  • healtth
  • heatlh
  • helath
  • hhealth

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of health - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ehalth2haelth2healht2heallth1healthh1healtth1heatlh2helath2
Edit distance from "health"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "health"?
"health" is spelled H-E-A-L-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is /hɛlθ/.
What does "health" mean?
As a noun, "health" means: The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness.
What words are commonly confused with "health"?
"health" is commonly confused with "heat", "heart", "heath". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "health"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "health" is /hɛlθ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "health"?
Inherited from Middle English helthe, from Old English hǣlþ, from Proto-West Germanic *hailiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hailiþō, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, hale”). Cognate with Old High German heilida. Analyzable as whole, hale, or heal + -... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "health", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

course#343within#351thanks#362others#366

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

single9 variantsthough9 variantsalmost9 variantsbelieve9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list