alert
/əˈlɜːt/
"alert" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alert” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,057. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,057
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Attentive; awake; on guard.
Corpus desk
Index EN-alert · alert · English
alert · rank #4,057 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,057
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH veterans
Nearest frequency peer: veterans (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “alert”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- twin
twin
95,947 corpus weight
- upcoming
upcoming
95,946 corpus weight
- veterans
veterans
95,945 corpus weight
- alert
alert
95,944 corpus weight
- arena
arena
95,943 corpus weight
- arguments
arguments
95,942 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “alert” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | alert |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈlɜːt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,057 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alert” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around alert (IPA /əˈlɜːt/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,057 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for alert, with forms such as "aelrt", "alerrt", and "alertt". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "art", "alt", "Alex", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French alerte (“alert”), from the phrase à l'erte (“on the watch”), from Italian all'erta (“to the height”), from erta (“lookout, tower”). The correct English form is alert, spelled A-L-E-R-T.
Definition
- 1Attentive; awake; on guard.
- 2brisk; nimble; moving with celerity.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how alert appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I saw an alert young fellow that cocked his hat upon a friend of his who entered just at the same time with myself
Etymology
From French alerte (“alert”), from the phrase à l'erte (“on the watch”), from Italian all'erta (“to the height”), from erta (“lookout, tower”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aelrt
- alerrt
- alertt
- aletr
- allert
- alret
- laert
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alert - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "alert"?
What does "alert" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "alert", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "alert". Here's where to go from here.
- "alert" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "art". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #4,057 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.