heresy
/ˈhɛɹəsi/
"heresy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“heresy” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,334. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,334
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance or conflict with established religious beliefs.
Corpus desk
Index EN-heresy · heresy · English
heresy · rank #18,334 · 9 variants · 12 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,334
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH hella
Nearest frequency peer: hella (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “heresy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Hara
Hara
81,671 corpus weight
- hella
hella
81,668 corpus weight
- heresy
heresy
81,667 corpus weight
- herpes
herpes
81,666 corpus weight
- hipster
hipster
81,665 corpus weight
- hostess
hostess
81,663 corpus weight
What this shows “heresy” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | heresy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɛɹəsi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #18,334 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “heresy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around heresy (IPA /ˈhɛɹəsi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,334 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for heresy, with forms such as "ehresy", "heersy", and "heressy". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "hers", "heroes", "herpes", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English heresie, from Old French heresie (modern hérésie), from Latin haeresis, from Ancient Greek αἵρεσις (haíresis, “choice, system of principles”), from αἱρέομαι (hairéomai, “to take for oneself, to choose”), the middle voice of αἱρέω (hairéō… The correct English form is heresy, spelled H-E-R-E-S-Y.
Definition
- 1A doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance or conflict with established religious beliefs.
- 2A controversial or unorthodox opinion held by a member of a group, as in politics, philosophy or science.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how heresy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Heresy meant deliberate departure from the accepted doctrines of the church. It was intellectual and spiritual dissent and concerned the beliefs of Christianity, not the morals of its adherents.
I'm going to declare a heresy for you. All science, if you go back into its roots, saying: 'Why do I believe this?' 'Well, I believe this because of these tests and this proof.' 'Well, why do I believe this?' 'Why did I set up this test?' 'Why did I believe that proof?' All science goes back to something that we believe because we believe it. We believe i…
Etymology
From Middle English heresie, from Old French heresie (modern hérésie), from Latin haeresis, from Ancient Greek αἵρεσις (haíresis, “choice, system of principles”), from αἱρέομαι (hairéomai, “to take for oneself, to choose”), the middle voice of αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ser-; see also Welsh herw (“theft, raid”), Ancient Greek στερέω (steréō, “to deprive of”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ehresy
- heersy
- heressy
- heresyy
- hereys
- herresy
- hersey
- hheresy
- hreesy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of heresy - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "heresy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).