actress
/ˈæk.tɹɪs/
"actress" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“actress” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,273 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,273
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A female who performs on the stage or in films.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | actress |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæk.tɹɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,273 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “actress” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for actress is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæk.tɹɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,273 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for actress, with forms such as "acctress", "acrtess", and "acterss". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "address", "acres", "across", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From actor + -ess. Probably formed independently of Middle French actrice. The correct English form is actress, spelled A-C-T-R-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1A female who performs on the stage or in films.
- 2A female doer or "actor" (in a general sense).
Etymology
From actor + -ess. Probably formed independently of Middle French actrice.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acctress,acrtess,acterss,actres,actrress,actrses,acttress,atcress,catress
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of actress - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “actress”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-T-R-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæk.tɹɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “address” - see the side-by-side comparison. actress vs address
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.