astray
/əˈstɹeɪ/
"astray" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“astray” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #24,383. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #24,383
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Away from the proper path; in a wrong or unknown direction.
Corpus desk
Index EN-astray · astray · English
astray · rank #24,383 · 9 variants · 10 confusables
- FREQ-MID #24,383
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH astral
Nearest frequency peer: astral (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “astray”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Aries
Aries
75,621 corpus weight
- astral
astral
75,619 corpus weight
- astray
astray
75,618 corpus weight
- baffling
baffling
75,616 corpus weight
- bal
bal
75,615 corpus weight
- banded
banded
75,614 corpus weight
What this shows “astray” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | astray |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /əˈstɹeɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #24,383 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “astray”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around astray (IPA /əˈstɹeɪ/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #24,383 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for astray, with forms such as "asrtay", "asstray", and "astary". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "Astros", "Astrid", "Asta", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English astraien or by apheresis straien, from Old French estraier (“to stray”), from late Medieval Latin extravagari (“to wander beyond”), from Latin extra (“beyond”) + vagārī (“to wander, stray”). The correct English form is astray, spelled A-S-T-R-A-Y.
Definition
- 1Away from the proper path; in a wrong or unknown direction.
- 2Away from what is right and good; into error or evil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how astray appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Go, set the storm-winds free, / And sink their ships or scatter them astray, / And strew their corpses forth, to weltering waves a prey.
Etymology
From Middle English astraien or by apheresis straien, from Old French estraier (“to stray”), from late Medieval Latin extravagari (“to wander beyond”), from Latin extra (“beyond”) + vagārī (“to wander, stray”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- asrtay
- asstray
- astary
- astrayy
- astrray
- astrya
- asttray
- atsray
- satray
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of astray - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "astray", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).