English homophones
whiskey/whisky
"whiskey" (#9,987 written frequency) beats "whisky" (#12,530) in this 2-word /ˈwɪski/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈwɪski/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "whiskey" leads at #9,987, with "whisky" trailing at #12,530.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "whisk" then splits - "whiskey" (7 letters) vs "whisky" (6).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across whiskey, whisky: hikswy. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
whiskey
7 letters · 3 vowels · shape CCVCCVV
Inventory ehikswy · private e
whisky
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CCVCCV
Inventory hikswy · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "whiskey" when you mean: A liquor distilled from the fermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley).
- Write "whisky" when you mean: Alternative form of whiskey, an alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain, usually aged in oak barrels, (particularly) Scotch; a dr…
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
noun · /ˈwɪski/ · #9,987 frequency
A liquor distilled from the fermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley).
noun · /ˈwɪski/ · #12,530 frequency
Alternative form of whiskey, an alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain, usually aged in oak barrels, (particularly) Scotch; a drink of this liquor.
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (whiskey, whisky). Here's where to go from here.
- "whiskey" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #9,987 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: we'd · weed. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "whiskey, whisky" 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.