check
/t͡ʃɛk/
"check" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“check” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #487 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #487
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An inspection or examination.
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 | check |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃɛk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #487 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “check” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for check is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /t͡ʃɛk/. Corpus data places it at rank #487 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 12 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 check, with forms such as "ccheck", "cehck", and "chcek". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "chef", "cock", "Chen", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chek, chekke, borrowed from Old French eschek, eschec, eschac, from Medieval Latin scaccus, borrowed from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king or check at chess, shah”), borrowed from Classical Persian شَاه (šāh, “king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠… The correct English form is check, spelled C-H-E-C-K.
Definition
- 1An inspection or examination.
- 2A control; a limit or stop.
- 3A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece.
- 4A mark (especially a checkmark: ✓) used as an indicator.
- 5An order to a bank to pay money to a named person or entity.
- 6A bill, particularly in a restaurant.
- 7A maneuver performed by a player to take another player out of the play.
- 8A token used instead of cash in various contexts, including sign-out of company property or collection of rations (dated), in gaming machines, or in gambling generally.
- 9A lengthwise separation through the growth rings in wood.
- 10A mark, certificate, or token by which errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified.
- 11The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds.
- 12A small chink or crack.
Etymology
From Middle English chek, chekke, borrowed from Old French eschek, eschec, eschac, from Medieval Latin scaccus, borrowed from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king or check at chess, shah”), borrowed from Classical Persian شَاه (šāh, “king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /šāh/), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /xšāyaθiya/, “king”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšáyati (“he rules, he has power over”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to gain power over, gain control over”). All of the English senses developed from the chess sense. Compare Saterland Frisian Schak, Schach, Dutch schaak, German Schach, Danish skak, Swedish schack, Icelandic skák, French échec, Italian scacco. See chess and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”), from the same source, as well as thig, which derives from the Germanic cognate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccheck,cehck,chcek,checck,checkk,chekc,chheck,hceck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of check - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “check”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-E-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /t͡ʃɛk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “chef” - see the side-by-side comparison. check vs chef
- 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.