care for

verb

"care-for" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“care for” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To attend to the needs of, especially in the manner of a nurse or personal aide.

Corpus desk

Index EN-care-for · care for · English

care for · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for care for
PropertyValue
Headwordcare for
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “care for” in English

care forsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

care for is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for care for in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is care for, spelled C-A-R-E- -F-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    To attend to the needs of, especially in the manner of a nurse or personal aide.
  2. 2
    To like or appreciate; to consider to be appealing, tasteful, or suitable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how care for appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I cared for my ailing mother for five years.
  2. The grave is still cared for by the local authorities, and the monument is in an excellent state of preservation.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "care for"?
"care for" is spelled C-A-R-E- -F-O-R.
What does "care for" mean?
As a verb, "care for" means: To attend to the needs of, especially in the manner of a nurse or personal aide.
What language does "care for" come from?
"care for" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list