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” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #171. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#171
frequency rank, English
2,646
“H” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action given to provide assistance; aid.

Corpus desk

Index EN-help · help · English

help · rank #171 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #171
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,646
  • PHOTO-FINISH high

Nearest frequency peer: high (+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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “help”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “help” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

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

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).help lands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around help (IPA /hɛlp/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #171 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I need some help with my homework.
  2. He was a great help to me when I was moving house.

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

high#172find#169does#177part#162

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

three6 variantsboth6 variantshouse6 variantsagain6 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "help". Here's where to go from here.

  • "help" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "HP". View pair
  • 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #171 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "H" letter cohort. H–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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