Which to use
“hear” and “herir” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,395
- “hear” frequency rank
- #12,394
- “herir” frequency rank
- 53789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hear | herir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oír. | Abrir, romper, destrozar las carnes de un animal. |
Where the eye mixes hear and herir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hear runs 4 letters (CVVC) against herir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hear with herir
A purely visual mix-up. hear (/hɪə(ɹ)/) and herir ([eˈɾiɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hear is recorded at frequency rank #41,395, classified as averb, pronounced /hɪə(ɹ)/. herir is at rank #12,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [eˈɾiɾ].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 53789, this pair ranks #86,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hear vs herir
Shared letters: ehr. Private to "hear": a. Private to "herir": i.
"hear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "herir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hear" and "herir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hear" or "herir"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "herir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hear" and "herir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hear vs heard". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #86,198 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.