agonist
/ˈæ.ɡɘ.nɪst/
"agonist" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“agonist” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,605 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #35,605
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Someone involved in a contest or battle (as in an agon), protagonist.
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 | agonist |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæ.ɡɘ.nɪst/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #35,605 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “agonist” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for agonist is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæ.ɡɘ.nɪst/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,605 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for agonist, with forms such as "aggonist", "agnoist", and "agoinst". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "amongst", "arsonist", "Adonis", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin agōnista, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “combatant, champion”). By surface analysis, agon or agony + -ist. The correct English form is agonist, spelled A-G-O-N-I-S-T.
Definition
- 1Someone involved in a contest or battle (as in an agon), protagonist.
- 2The muscle that contracts while the other relaxes.
- 3A molecule that can combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin agōnista, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “combatant, champion”). By surface analysis, agon or agony + -ist.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aggonist,agnoist,agoinst,agonisst,agonistt,agonits,agonnist,agonsit,aognist,gaonist
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of agonist - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “agonist”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-G-O-N-I-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæ.ɡɘ.nɪst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “amongst” - see the side-by-side comparison. agonist vs amongst
- 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.