angst
/ˈæŋ(k)st/
"angst" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“angst” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #20,553 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #20,553
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Emotional turmoil; painful sadness; anguish.
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 | angst |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæŋ(k)st/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #20,553 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “angst” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for angst is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæŋ(k)st/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,553 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 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for angst, with forms such as "agnst", "anggst", and "angsst". 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, "ant", "ans", "ants", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from German Angst or Danish angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Søren Kierkegaard. Initially capitalized (as in German and contemporaneous Danish), the term first began to be written with a lowercase "a" a… The correct English form is angst, spelled A-N-G-S-T.
Definition
- 1Emotional turmoil; painful sadness; anguish.
- 2A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
- 3Fiction focusing on characters experiencing strong emotions and conflicts with other characters.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Angst or Danish angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Søren Kierkegaard. Initially capitalized (as in German and contemporaneous Danish), the term first began to be written with a lowercase "a" around 1940–44. The German and Danish terms both derive from Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust, from Proto-Germanic *angustiz; Dutch angst is cognate. Compare Swedish ångest.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agnst,anggst,angsst,angstt,angts,anngst,ansgt,nagst
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of angst - 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 “angst”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-G-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæŋ(k)st/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ant” - see the side-by-side comparison. angst vs ant
- 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.