help

/hɛlp/

//hɛlp// noun

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

"help" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“help” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #171 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#171
frequency rank, English
4
letters
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Action given to provide assistance; aid.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

help vs HP
0% similar
help vs her
50% similar
help vs hey
50% similar

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

Key facts for help
PropertyValue
Headwordhelp
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/hɛlp/
Letters4
Frequency rank#171
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “help” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). help lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for help is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hɛlp/. Corpus data places it at rank #171 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for help, with forms such as "ehlp", "hellp", and "helpp". 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, "HP", "her", "hey", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English help, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälpe (“help”), West Frisian help (… The correct English form is help, spelled H-E-L-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action given to provide assistance; aid.
  2. 2
    Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
  3. 3
    Documentation provided with computer software that could be accessed using the computer.
  4. 4
    A study aid.
  5. 5
    One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
  6. 6
    Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.

Etymology

From Middle English help, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälpe (“help”), West Frisian help (“help”), Cimbrian hölfe (“help”), Dutch hulp (“help”), German Hilfe (“help, aid, assistance”), Luxembourgish Hëllef (“help”), Mòcheno hilf (“help”), Vilamovian hyłf (“help”), Yiddish הילף (hilf, “help”), Danish hjælp (“help”), Faroese, Icelandic hjálp (“help”), Norwegian Bokmål hjelp (“help”), Norwegian Nynorsk hjelp, hjølp (“help”), Swedish hjälp (“help”).

Synonyms

aidassistance

This word in other languages

ayuda(Español)aide(Français)Hilfe(Deutsch)ajuda(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ehlp,hellp,helpp,hepl,hhelp,hlep

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of help - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ehlp2hellp1helpp1hepl2hhelp1hlep2
Edit distance from "help"

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 "help"?
"help" is spelled H-E-L-P. The IPA pronunciation is /hɛlp/.
What does "help" mean?
As a noun, "help" means: Action given to provide assistance; aid.
What words are commonly confused with "help"?
"help" is commonly confused with "HP", "her", "hey". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "help"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "help" is /hɛlp/. 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 "help"?
From Middle English help, from Old English help (“help, aid, assistance, relief”), from Proto-Germanic *helpō (“help”), *hilpiz, *hulpiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälpe (“help”), West Fris... 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.

Using “help”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-E-L-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /hɛlp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “HP” - see the side-by-side comparison. help vs HP
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list