Word Confusion: Heal versus Heel

Posted August 26, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
6 July 2023

I dunno. I never have understood how anyone can confuse these. Well, to be fair, I suspect it’s more often a case of spellcheck not catching it than someone actually confusing it . . . please god . . . This heterograph is a good example of writers needing a proofreader or copyeditor, though.

Part of writing a good story is drawing your reader into the story. Making him or her forget the world around them and fall completely into yours . . . I do love it when I get that absorbed! However, while the occasional lapse in spelling or punctuation doesn’t throw me too bad (and I am not the only reader who notices problems), there can be a variety of reasons why I get tossed out of the world you’re creating from poorly constructed sentences, sentences I have to read and re-read, awful punctuation . . . and using the wrong word.

Be aware of those confusions. I don’t want to read about a doctor heeling his patient. Well, unless he’s a veterinarian. I suppose I could handle some guy healing his dog on the sidewalk. After all, maybe the dog went into convulsions or got hit by a car. Of course, it’s possible that somebody heeling his girlfriend could be into BDSM . . . buttttt that doesn’t happen that often in the books I read . . . ahem . . .

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Heal	Heel
Healing is in the public domain, via PxHere.	When Walking by susanne906 is in the public domain, via Pixabay.
Part of Grammar:
Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: heals Past tense or past participle: healed Present participle: healing	Noun ¹, ², ³; Verb ¹, ², intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: heels Gerund: heeling Third person present verb: heels Past tense or past participle: heeled Present participle: heeling
Verb, intransitive: Become sound or healthy again Verb, transitive: [Of a person or treatment] Cause a wound, injury, or person to become sound or healthy again Alleviate a person’s distress or anguish Correct or put right an undesirable situation	Noun: Back part of the foot below the ankle ¹ Part of the palm of the hand next to the wrist Part of a shoe or boot supporting the heel Part of a sock covering the heel [heels] High-heeled shoes A thing resembling a heel in form or position, in particular: End of a violin bow at which it is held Part of the head of a golf club nearest the shaft Crusty end of a loaf of bread, or the rind of a cheese Piece of the main stem of a plant left attached to the base of a cutting Rear of the palm, next to the wrist Control, subjugation Latter or concluding part of something After end of the keel of a ship [As an exclamation] A command to a dog to walk close behind its owner An instance of a ship leaning over in such a way ² The degree of incline of a ship’s leaning measured from the vertical Contemptibly dishonorable or irresponsible person ³ Verb, intransitive: Touch the ground with the heel when dancing ¹ To use the heels, as in dancing [Of a dog] To follow at one’s heels on command [Of a boat or ship] Be tilted temporarily by the pressure of wind or by an uneven distribution of weight on board ² Cant Tilt Verb, transitive: Fit or renew a heel on a shoe or boot ¹ [Of a dog] Follow closely behind its owner [Golf] Strike the ball with the heel of the club Strike, prod, or propel with the heel Cause a boat or ship to lean over in such a way ²
Examples:
Verb, intransitive: He would have to wait until his knee had healed. Time can heal the pain of grief. The rift between them was never really healed. It was six months before it all healed. Verb, transitive: She needs to heal her soul. His concern is to heal sick people. No doctor has ever healed a broken bone.	Noun: He rubbed the heel of his hand against the window. I prefer shoes with low heels. Many women wear heels. The vertical separation varies with the angle of heel and is at the mercy of buoyancy and weight. What kind of a heel do you think I am? Verb, intransitive: He heeled to win the game. The dog won’t heel. The cargo had not been loaded properly from the way the ship was heeling to one side. Verb, transitive: These dogs are born with the instinctive urge to heel. Damn, I heeled it! As the boat heels, the wind pressure on the sails decreases because the sails present a smaller area to the wind (Will). The ship heeled in going about.
Derivatives:
Adjective: half-healed, healable, healing, unhealable, unhealed Noun: healer, healing Verb, transitive: preheal	Adjective: heelless Noun: heeler
History of the Word:
Old English hǣlan (in the sense of restore to sound health), is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch heelen and the German heilen	From the Old English hēla, hǣla are of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch hiel Late 16th century from the obsolete heeld, hield meaning incline and of Germanic origin Related to the Dutch hellen. 1910-1915, Americanism; perhaps a euphemistic shortening of shit-heel.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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