cough
/kɒf/
"cough" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cough” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,668 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #7,668
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 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.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cough is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɒf/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,668 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cough"?
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Using “cough”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-U-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɒf/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “coup” - see the side-by-side comparison. cough vs coup
- 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.