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PlainSpell

heel

/hil/noun, verb

heel is spelled H-E-E-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “heal vs heel” about 1,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, heel means “The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of heel is heels.

How many letters and syllables are in heel?

Letters4: H-E-E-L
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.9 times per million words; the 9,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is heel?

Heel appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th 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 heel?

  • UK /hiːl/
  • US /hil/

Heel 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-heel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with heel

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

heal vs heel1,900 G

Sounds like: he'll, heal (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: hele.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with heel?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as heel from its last stressed vowel (/il/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: hele.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of heel

  • heels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • heeling participle, present
  • heeled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does heel mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.

  2. 2

    The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.

  3. 3

    The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.

  4. 4

    The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.

    He drove the heel of his hand into the man's nose.

  5. 5

    A high-heeled shoe.

  6. 6

    The back, upper part of the stock.

  7. 7

    The thickening of the neck of a stringed instrument where it attaches to the body.

  8. 8

    The last or lowest part of anything.

    the heel of a mast

  9. 9

    The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant.

    [T]he boat, from a sudden gust of wind, taking a deep heel, I tumbled overboard and down I went […] .

verb

  1. 1

    To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.

    She called to her dog to heel.

  2. 2

    To cause to follow at somebody’s heels (transitive).

  3. 3

    To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).

  4. 4

    To kick with the heel.

    she heeled her horse forward

  5. 5

    To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.

  6. 6

    To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.

  7. 7

    To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.

  8. 8

    To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.

  9. 9

    To incline to one side; to tilt.

  10. 10

    rareAlternative form of hele (“cover; conceal”).

    [I] of my own free will and accord, do hereby, here at and hereon, solemnly swear that I will always heel, conceal and never improperly reveal any of the secrets or mysteries of, or belonging to [the Masons].

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Heel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtalon (anatomy: part of the foot), croûton, quignon (end-piece of a loaf of bread – see also butt…), talonner (To follow at somebody's heels)
GermanFerse (anatomy: part of the foot), Kanten, Knapp (end-piece of a loaf of bread – see also butt…), (jemandem) auf den Fersen sein (To follow at somebody's heels), Absatz, Schuhabsatz (part of shoe)
Portuguesecalcanhar (anatomy: part of the foot), tampa (end-piece of a loaf of bread – see also butt…), tacão, salto (part of shoe)
Spanishtalón, calcaño, calcañar, calcañal, carcañal, carcaño (anatomy: part of the foot)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does heel come from?

From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“heel, hock”), equivalent to hock + -le. More at hock. Compare North Frisian haiel, West Frisian hyl, Dutch hiel, German Low German Hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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