assault
/əˈsɒlt/
"assault" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“assault” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,349 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,349
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | assault |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈsɒlt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,349 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “assault” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for assault is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈsɒlt/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,349 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 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 assault, with forms such as "asasult", "asault", and "assalut". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English assaut, from Old French noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l. The correct English form is assault, spelled A-S-S-A-U-L-T.
Definition
- 1A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc.
- 2A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like
- 3An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing.
- 4The crime whose action is such an attempt.
- 5An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm (such as brandishing a weapon).
- 6The tort whose action is such an act.
- 7A non-competitive combat between two fencers.
Etymology
From Middle English assaut, from Old French noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asasult,asault,assalut,assaullt,assaultt,assautl,assualt,sasault
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of assault - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “assault”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-S-A-U-L-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈsɒlt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.