cough
/kɒf/
"cough" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cough” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,668. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,668
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sometimes followed by up: to force (something) out of the lungs or throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cough · cough · English
cough · rank #7,668 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,668
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 43,570
- PHOTO-FINISH correction
Nearest frequency peer: correction (-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 “cough”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- consumed
consumed
92,336 corpus weight
- corrected
corrected
92,335 corpus weight
- correction
correction
92,334 corpus weight
- cough
cough
92,333 corpus weight
- cousins
cousins
92,332 corpus weight
- critic
critic
92,331 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “cough” 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 | cough |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kɒf/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,668 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cough” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around cough (IPA /kɒf/), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,668 among 43,570 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cough, with forms such as "ccough", "coguh", and "couggh". 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, "coup", "cour", "could", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English coughen, coghen (“to cough; to vomit”) [and other forms], from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Cog… The correct English form is cough, spelled C-O-U-G-H.
Definition
- 1Sometimes followed by up: to force (something) out of the lungs or throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.
- 2To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.
- 3To express (words, etc.) in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.
- 4To surrender (information); to confess.
- 5Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).
- 6To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually to expel something blocking or irritating the airway.
- 7To make a noise like a cough.
- 8To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cough appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sometimes she coughed up blood.
Jeeves coughed one soft, low, gentle cough like a sheep with a blade of grass stuck in its throat, and then stood gazing serenely at the landscape.
Etymology
From Middle English coughen, coghen (“to cough; to vomit”) [and other forms], from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Cognates * Middle Dutch cuchen (“to cough”) (modern Dutch kuchen (“to cough”); German Low German kuchen (“to cough”)) * Middle High German kûchen (“to breathe (on); to exhale”), kîchen (“to breathe with difficulty”) (modern German keichen, keuchen (“to breathe with difficulty; to gasp, pant”)) * Spanish cof (“coughing sound”) * West Frisian kiche (“to cough”), kochelje (“to cough persistently”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccough
- coguh
- couggh
- coughh
- couhg
- cuogh
- ocugh
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cough - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cough"?
What does "cough" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cough", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
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.