cuckold

/ˈkʌ.kəʊld/

//ˈkʌ.kəʊld// noun

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

"cuckold" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cuckold” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,847. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,847
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A man married to an adulterous spouse, especially when he is unaware or unaccepting of the fact.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cuckold · cuckold · English

cuckold · rank #34,847 · 11 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #34,847
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH culled

Nearest frequency peer: culled (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “cuckold”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “cuckold” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

cuckold vs cuckoo
71% similar

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

Key facts for cuckold
PropertyValue
Headwordcuckold
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkʌ.kəʊld/
Letters7
Frequency rank#34,847
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cuckold”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).cuckoldlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “culled” (#34,848), “crayfish” (#34,845), “Czechs” (#34,849). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cuckold” is #34,847. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around cuckold (IPA /ˈkʌ.kəʊld/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #34,847 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for cuckold, with forms such as "ccuckold", "ccukold", and "cucckold". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "cuckoo", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cokolde, cokewold, cockewold, kukwald, kukeweld, from Old French cucuault; a compound of cucu (“cuckoo”) and Old French -auld. The word references the behavior of cuckoo birds where they lay their eggs in another bird’s nest. Cucu is eit… The correct English form is cuckold, spelled C-U-C-K-O-L-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A man married to an adulterous spouse, especially when he is unaware or unaccepting of the fact.
  2. 2
    A man who is attracted to or aroused by the sexual infidelity of a partner.
  3. 3
    A West Indian plectognath fish, Rhinesomus triqueter.
  4. 4
    The scrawled cowfish, Acanthostracion quadricornis and allied species.
  5. 5
    Synonym of fringed filefish.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. If I never marry, I shall never be a cuckold.
  2. You see, it happened that two lieutenantesses were fighting, because their husbands had made cuckolds of them ...

Etymology

From Middle English cokolde, cokewold, cockewold, kukwald, kukeweld, from Old French cucuault; a compound of cucu (“cuckoo”) and Old French -auld. The word references the behavior of cuckoo birds where they lay their eggs in another bird’s nest. Cucu is either a directly derived onomatopoeic derivative of the cuckoo's call, or from Latin cucūlus. Latin cucūlus is a compound of onomatopoeic cucu (compare Late Latin cucus) and the diminutive suffix -ulus. Old French -auld is from Frankish *-wald (similar suffixes are used in some personal names within other Germanic languages as well; compare English Harold, for instance), a suffixal use of Frankish *wald (“wielder, ruler, leader”), from Proto-Germanic *waldaz (compare German Gewalt, from the related *waldą (“power, might”)), from *waldaną (“to rule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong; to rule”). Appears in Middle English in noun form circa 1250 as cokewald. First known use of the verb form is 1589.

Synonyms

Ostracion triquetersmooth trunkfishActeoncornutocuckcuckoldcuckholdhoddy-peakskimmingtonVulcanian

This word in other languages

cornudo(Español)cocu(Français)Gehörnter(Deutsch)chifrudo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccuckold
  • ccukold
  • cucckold
  • cuckkold
  • cucklod
  • cuckodl
  • cuckoldd
  • cuckolld
  • cucokld
  • cukcold
  • ucckold

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cuckold - 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.

ccuckold1ccukold2cucckold1cuckkold1cucklod2cuckodl2cuckoldd1cuckolld1
Edit distance from "cuckold"

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 "cuckold"?
"cuckold" is spelled C-U-C-K-O-L-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkʌ.kəʊld/.
What does "cuckold" mean?
As a noun, "cuckold" means: A man married to an adulterous spouse, especially when he is unaware or unaccepting of the fact.
What words are commonly confused with "cuckold"?
"cuckold" is commonly confused with "cuckoo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cuckold"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cuckold" is /ˈkʌ.kəʊld/. 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 "cuckold"?
From Middle English cokolde, cokewold, cockewold, kukwald, kukeweld, from Old French cucuault; a compound of cucu (“cuckoo”) and Old French -auld. The word references the behavior of cuckoo birds where they lay their eggs in another bird’s nest. C... 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 "cuckold", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

defraud#34,852dowager#34,862dunning#34,865chimera#34,823

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

euphoric11 variantsbuckles11 variantsferment11 variantsbrevity11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list