take heed

verb

"take-heed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“take heed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To pay attention.

Corpus desk

Index EN-take-heed · take heed · English

take heed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for take heed
PropertyValue
Headwordtake heed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “take heed” in English

take heedsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

take heed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To pay attention.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for take heed, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is take heed, spelled T-A-K-E- -H-E-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    To pay attention.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The king spoke and the lords took heed.
  2. Pro. Then, as my gueſt, and thine owne acquiſition / Worthily purchas’d, take my daughter: But / If thou do’ſt breake her Virgin-knot, before / All ſanctimonious ceremonies may / With full and holy right, be miniſtred, / No ſweet aſperſion ſhall the heauens let fall / To make this contract grow; but barraine hate, / Sower-ey’d diſdaine, and diſcord ſhall…

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "take heed"?
"take heed" is spelled T-A-K-E- -H-E-E-D.
What does "take heed" mean?
As a verb, "take heed" means: To pay attention.
What language does "take heed" come from?
"take heed" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list