English homophones
straight/strait
"straight" (#979 written frequency) beats "strait" (#13,066) in this 2-word /stɹeɪt/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /stɹeɪt/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "straight" leads at #979, with "strait" trailing at #13,066.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "strai" then splits - "straight" (8 letters) vs "strait" (6).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across straight, strait: airst. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
straight
8 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCCVVCCC
Inventory aghirst · private gh
strait
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCCVVC
Inventory airst · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "straight" when you mean: Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length.
- Write "strait" when you mean: Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (straight, strait). Here's where to go from here.
- "straight" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #979 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: stake · steak. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "straight, strait" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.