hello
/hɛˈloʊ/
"hello" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hello” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,944 in English word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #1,944
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hello |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /hɛˈloʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,944 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hello” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hello is 5 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hɛˈloʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,944 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for hello, with forms such as "ehllo", "helo", and "helol". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "help", "hill", "hero", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Hello (first attested in 1826), from holla, hollo (attested 1588). This variant of hallo is often credited to Thomas Edison as a coinage for telephone use, but its appearance in print predates the invention of the telephone by several decades. Ultimately fr… The correct English form is hello, spelled H-E-L-L-O.
Definition
- 1A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.
- 2A greeting used when answering the telephone.
- 3A call for response if it is not clear if anyone is present or listening, or if a telephone conversation may have been disconnected.
- 4Used sarcastically to imply that the person addressed has done something the speaker considers to be foolish, or missed something that should have been obvious.
- 5An expression of puzzlement or discovery.
Etymology
Hello (first attested in 1826), from holla, hollo (attested 1588). This variant of hallo is often credited to Thomas Edison as a coinage for telephone use, but its appearance in print predates the invention of the telephone by several decades. Ultimately from a variant of Old English ēalā, such as hēlā, which was used colloquially at the time similarly to how hey and (in some dialects) hi are used nowadays. Thus, equivalent to a compound of hey and lo. Used when drawing attention to yourself. Possibly influenced by Old Saxon halo!, imperative of halōn (“to call, fetch”), used in hailing a ferryman, akin to Old High German hala, hola!, imperative forms of halōn, holōn (“to fetch”). More at hallo. OED and Merriam-Webster also suggested that it is a variant of holla, a variant of holloo. Further beyond, the origin remains uncertain. OED and Merriam-Webster suggested that it has a connection between hallow (“to shout, to cry out loud”), which came from Old French holloer, which, according to Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, is from Old Saxon halōn.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ehllo,helo,helol,hhello,hlelo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hello - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “hello”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-L-L-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hɛˈloʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “help” - see the side-by-side comparison. hello vs help
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.