take to heart

verb

"take-to-heart" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To take something seriously; to internalize or live according to something (e.g. advice.)

Corpus desk

Index EN-take-to-heart · take to heart · English

take to heart · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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 to heart
PropertyValue
Headwordtake to heart
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “take to heart” in English

take to heartfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

take to heart is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for take to heart, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is take to heart, spelled T-A-K-E- -T-O- -H-E-A-R-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To take something seriously; to internalize or live according to something (e.g. advice.)
  2. 2
    To feel keenly; be greatly grieved at; be much affected by something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He really took it to heart when I asked him to reconsider.
  2. Of course, with her weak heart and dropsy one couldn't expect that she could get about with him, but he spent two hours every evening in her room. He might well do what he could, for she has been a rare good friend to him. But that's all over, too. He never goes near her. And she takes it to heart. She is brooding and sulky and drinking, Mr. Holmes—drinki…

This word in other languages

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 to heart"?
"take to heart" is spelled T-A-K-E- -T-O- -H-E-A-R-T.
What does "take to heart" mean?
As a verb, "take to heart" means: To take something seriously; to internalize or live according to something (e.g. advice.)
What language does "take to heart" come from?
"take to heart" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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