# heft

> English word · Noun · IPA /hɛft/ · frequency rank #39,349

## Definitions
1. The feel of the weight of something; heaviness.
2. The force exerted by an object due to gravitation; weight.
3. Graveness, seriousness; gravity.
4. Importance, influence; weight.
5. The greater part of something; the bulk, the mass.
6. An act of lifting; a lift.
7. An act of heaving (lifting with difficulty); an instance of violent exertion or straining.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English heft (“heaviness; something heavy, a weight”), from heven (“to lift, raise”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns), by analogy with the development of weft from weven (modern English weave), etc. (also compare words like cleft from cleave, and theft from thieve, where the development occurred in Old English or earlier languages). The English word is analysable as heave + -t (suffix forming nouns from verbs).
The verb is probably derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **her** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-her)
- **hit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hit)
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hot)
- **hey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hey)
- **hes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hes)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hut)
- **heh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-heh)
- **hen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hen)
- **hem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hem)
- **het** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-het)
- **hof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hof)
- **Hel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hel)
- **hep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hep)
- **HRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hrt)
- **hew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hew)
- **here** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-here)
- **help** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-help)
- **held** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-held)
- **hell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hell)
- **hurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heft-vs-hurt)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ehft`, `hefft`, `heftt`, `hetf`, `hfet`, `hheft`

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