cord
/kɔɹd/
"cord" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cord” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,328. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,328
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example).
Corpus desk
Index EN-cord · cord · English
cord · rank #7,328 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,328
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH construct
Nearest frequency peer: construct (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “cord”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- colleague
colleague
92,678 corpus weight
- compelling
compelling
92,677 corpus weight
- construct
construct
92,674 corpus weight
- cord
cord
92,673 corpus weight
- crowded
crowded
92,672 corpus weight
- dale
dale
92,670 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “cord” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | cord |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɔɹd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,328 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cord” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around cord (IPA /kɔɹd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,328 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for cord, with forms such as "ccord", "codr", and "cordd". 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, "CR", "cry", "cow", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”)). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia. The correct English form is cord, spelled C-O-R-D.
Definition
- 1A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example).
- 2Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.
- 3A small flexible electrical conductor composed of wires insulated separately or in bundles and assembled together usually with an outer cover; the electrical cord of a lamp, sweeper ((US) vacuum cleaner), or other appliance.
- 4A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long.
- 5Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
- 6Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.
- 7Dated form of chord.
- 8Misspelling of chord, a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cord appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.
He looped some cord around his fingers.
Etymology
From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”)). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccord
- codr
- cordd
- corrd
- crod
- ocrd
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cord - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cord", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "cord". Here's where to go from here.
- "cord" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "CR". View pair
- 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #7,328 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.