anguish
/ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/
"anguish" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“anguish” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,757 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,757
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
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 | anguish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #17,757 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “anguish” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for anguish is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,757 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for anguish, with forms such as "agnuish", "angguish", and "angiush". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Angus", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English angwissh, anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angere (“to press together, cause p… The correct English form is anguish, spelled A-N-G-U-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
Etymology
From Middle English angwissh, anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angere (“to press together, cause pain, distress”). See angst, the Germanic cognate, and anger.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agnuish,angguish,angiush,anguihs,anguishh,anguissh,angusih,annguish,anugish,naguish
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of anguish - 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
How do you spell "anguish"?
What does "anguish" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "anguish"?
How do you pronounce "anguish"?
What is the origin of the word "anguish"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “anguish”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-G-U-I-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Angus” - see the side-by-side comparison. anguish vs Angus
- 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.