hecvshepTell them apart

Quick tell: hec is a noun, hep is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hec” is a noun and “hep” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,639
“hec” frequency rank
#47,935
“hep” frequency rank
64574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hec hep
Definition Planche qu'on pose sur la vendange avant de la soumettre à l'action du pressoir. Sert principalement à appeler ou interpeller quelqu’un.

Letter map: hec vs hep

Shared letters muted; letters that set hec and hep apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
hec
3 ch
hep

Part-of-speech tell for hec / hep

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hec is anoun and hepanintj. On the page they differ by a single letter - c in “hec” becomes p in “hep”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hec is recorded at frequency rank #16,639, classified as anoun. hep is at rank #47,935, tagged as anintj, pronounced \ɛp\.

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 64574, this pair ranks #76,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hec vs hep

Shared letters: eh. Private to "hec": c. Private to "hep": p.

"hec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hep" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hec" for "hep" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hec" is a noun and "hep" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hec" or "hep"?
"hec" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,639 in our French list, against #47,935 for "hep". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hec" vs "hep" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hep" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hec" and "hep" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hae vs hep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #76,394 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list