court

/kɔːt/

//kɔːt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"court" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“court” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #370. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#370
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.

Corpus desk

Index EN-court · court · English

court · rank #370 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #370
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH fact

Nearest frequency peer: fact (+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 “court”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “court” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

court vs cut
60% similar
court vs CRT
0% similar
court vs cur
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for court
PropertyValue
Headwordcourt
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kɔːt/
Letters5
Frequency rank#370
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “court” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). court lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around court (IPA /kɔːt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #370 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 17 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for court, with forms such as "ccourt", "corut", and "courrt". 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, "cut", "CRT", "cur", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Late Latin cōrs, contracted from Latin cohors. Doublet of cohort. A court (noun sense 4.2) assembled to hear the testimony of Charles Lindbergh. The room is also a court (noun sense 4.1). Professio… The correct English form is court, spelled C-O-U-R-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
  2. 2
    An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
  3. 3
    An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
  4. 4
    An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
  5. 5
    Royal society.
  6. 6
    Royal society.
  7. 7
    Royal society.
  8. 8
    Attention directed to a person in power; behaviour designed to gain favor; politeness of manner; civility towards someone.
  9. 9
    The administration of law.
  10. 10
    The administration of law.
  11. 11
    The administration of law.
  12. 12
    The administration of law.
  13. 13
    The administration of law.
  14. 14
    The administration of law.
  15. 15
    A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, handball, badminton, volleyball, squash and some other games
  16. 16
    A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, handball, badminton, volleyball, squash and some other games
  17. 17
    A space prepared and decorated by certain bird species in which to advertise themselves for a mate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how court appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The girls were playing in the court.
  2. All round the cool green courts there ran a row / Of cloisters, branched like mighty woods, / Echoing all night to that sonorous flow / Of spouted fountain floods.

Etymology

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Late Latin cōrs, contracted from Latin cohors. Doublet of cohort. A court (noun sense 4.2) assembled to hear the testimony of Charles Lindbergh. The room is also a court (noun sense 4.1). Professional tennis players playing on a tennis court (noun sense 5) in New Delhi, India

This word in other languages

patio(Español)cour(Français)Hof(Deutsch)pátio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccourt
  • corut
  • courrt
  • courtt
  • coutr
  • cuort
  • ocurt

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of court - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccourt1corut2courrt1courtt1coutr2cuort2ocurt2
Edit distance from "court"

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 September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "court"?
"court" is spelled C-O-U-R-T. The IPA pronunciation is /kɔːt/.
What does "court" mean?
As a noun, "court" means: An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
What words are commonly confused with "court"?
"court" is commonly confused with "cut", "CRT", "cur". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "court"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "court" is /kɔːt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "court"?
From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Late Latin cōrs, contracted from Latin cohors. Doublet of cohort. A court (noun sense 4.2) assembled to hear the testimony of Charles Lindbergh. The room is also a court (noun sense 4.1).... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "court", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

given#372isn't#376young#364level#377

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

often7 variantslocal7 variantsdeath7 variantsearly7 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "court". Here's where to go from here.

  • "court" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "cut". View pair
  • 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #370 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list