caress
/kəˈɹɛs/
"caress" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“caress” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #31,098. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #31,098
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-caress · caress · English
caress · rank #31,098 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #31,098
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH catchphrase
Nearest frequency peer: catchphrase (+2 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 “caress”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- butthole
butthole
68,906 corpus weight
- caress
caress
68,903 corpus weight
- catchphrase
catchphrase
68,901 corpus weight
- censure
censure
68,900 corpus weight
- channeled
channeled
68,899 corpus weight
- Charlene
Charlene
68,898 corpus weight
What this shows “caress” 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 | caress |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəˈɹɛs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #31,098 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “caress”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around caress (IPA /kəˈɹɛs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #31,098 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for caress, with forms such as "caerss", "carress", and "carses". 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. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cars", "Cass", "cases", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French caresse, from Italian carezza (“dear”), from Latin cārus (“dear”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂-, akin to Sanskrit काम (kāma, “love”). Doublet of karezza. The correct English form is caress, spelled C-A-R-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness.
- 2A gentle stroking or rubbing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how caress appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He exerted himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were under his command.
And he wooed her with his soft caresses, / Wooed her with his smile of sunshine, […]
Etymology
From French caresse, from Italian carezza (“dear”), from Latin cārus (“dear”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂-, akin to Sanskrit काम (kāma, “love”). Doublet of karezza.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- caerss
- carress
- carses
- ccaress
- craess
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of caress - 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 "caress", 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 (5 here; floor ≥5).