hearvsheurtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hear is a verb, heurt is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hear” is a verb and “heurt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,333
“hear” frequency rank
#48,578
“heurt” frequency rank
87911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hear heurt
Definition Entendre. Coup donné en heurtant contre quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hear and heurt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hear
5 ch
heurt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hear is \ˈhɪɹ\ while heurt is ^((h aspiré))\œʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hear is recorded at frequency rank #39,333, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈhɪɹ\. heurt is at rank #48,578, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\œʁ\.

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 87911, this pair ranks #7,654 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hear vs heurt

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "hear": a. Private to "heurt": tu.

"hear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "heurt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hearehar · hearr · hera · hhear
  • heurtehurt · herut · heurrt · heurtt · heutr · hheurt · huert

Frequency comparison

hear#39,333
heurt#48,578

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hear" and "heurt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hear" is a verb and "heurt" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hear" or "heurt"?
"hear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,333 in our French list, against #48,578 for "heurt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hear vs heurt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hear”; for a noun, it's “heurt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hear” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list