astronaut
/ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/
"astronaut" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“astronaut” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,907 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,907
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | astronaut |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #12,907 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “astronaut” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for astronaut is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,907 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 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for astronaut, with forms such as "asrtonaut", "asstronaut", and "astornaut". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”). The correct English form is astronaut, spelled A-S-T-R-O-N-A-U-T.
Definition
- 1A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose.
- 2A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose.
- 3A person (typically man) working abroad away from their family.
Etymology
From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asrtonaut,asstronaut,astornaut,astrnoaut,astroanut,astronatu,astronautt,astronnaut,astronuat,astrronaut,asttronaut,atsronaut,satronaut
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of astronaut - 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
How do you spell "astronaut"?
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Using “astronaut”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-T-R-O-N-A-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/ (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.