heatvshemConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#24,027
“heat” frequency rank
#27,124
“hem” frequency rank
51151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heat hem
Definition calor expressa incompreensão, não entendimento, simultaneamente comunicando àquele ao qual se dirige, que elucide o sentido, o nexo, que dê clareza ou que melhor se fale ou expresse o que se acabou de comunicar

Letter map: heat vs hem

Shared letters muted; letters that set heat and hem apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
heat
3 ch
hem

Grammar separator: heat vs hem

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: heat is anoun and hemanintj. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heat is recorded at frequency rank #24,027, classified as anoun. hem is at rank #27,124, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ẽɲ/.

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 51151, this pair ranks #13,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of heat vs hem

Shared letters: eh. Private to "heat": at. Private to "hem": m.

"heat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hem" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heatehat · heatt · heta · hheat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heat" for "hem" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heat" is a noun and "hem" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "heat" vs "hem" - which ranks higher?
"heat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,027 in our Portuguese list, against #27,124 for "hem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "heat" and "hem". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heat" and "hem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hem vs hui". 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 #13,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list