again
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "again", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "again" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "again" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
again is anEnglishadv. It means: Another time: indicating a repeat of an action. Pronounced /əˈɡɛn/. It ranks #189 in English word frequency. Often confused with ain and AGI.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | again |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adv |
| IPA | /əˈɡɛn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #189 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for again is 5 letters long, classified as anadv, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈɡɛn/. Corpus data places it at rank #189 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for again, with forms such as "aagin", "againn", and "agani". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ain", "AGI", "Alan", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Ol… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is again, spelled A-G-A-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Another time: indicating a repeat of an action.
- 2Back (to a former place or state).
- 3Over and above a factor of one.
- 4Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion.
- 5Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion.
- 6Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion.
- 7Used metalinguistically, with the repetition being in the discussion, or in the linguistic or pragmatic context of the discussion, rather than in the subject of discussion.
- 8Back in the reverse direction, or to an original starting point.
- 9In return, as a reciprocal action; back.
- 10In any other place.
- 11On the other hand.
- 12Moreover; besides; further.
Etymology
Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Germanic *in Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *ganganąder.? Proto-Germanic *gagin Proto-Germanic *in gagin Proto-West Germanic *in gagin Old English onġēan Middle English agayn English again From Middle English agayn, from Old English onġēan (“against, again”), from Proto-West Germanic *in gagin, from Proto-Germanic *in gagin. Cognate with German entgegen (“contrary to”), North Frisian ijen (“against”), Danish igen (“again”), Swedish igen (“again”), and Norwegian Bokmål igjen (“again”), and Icelandic í gegnum (“through”). By surface analysis, on- + gain (“against”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aagin,againn,agani,aggain,agian,gaain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for again
Misspelling Variants of "again"
Frequency rank: #189 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: