dart
/dɑːt/
"dart" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dart” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,505 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,505
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.
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 | dart |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɑːt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #14,505 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dart” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dart is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɑːt/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,505 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for dart, with forms such as "adrt", "darrt", and "dartt". 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, "Dr", "DT", "day", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dart, from Old French dart, dard (“dart”), from Medieval Latin dardus, from Frankish *darōþu (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *darōþuz (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- (“to leap, spring”). Compare Old High German ta… The correct English form is dart, spelled D-A-R-T.
Definition
- 1A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.
- 2Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.
- 3Anything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.
- 4A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts.
- 5A cigarette.
- 6A dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters.
- 7A plan or scheme.
- 8A sudden or fast movement.
- 9A fold that is stitched on a garment.
- 10A dace (fish) (Leuciscus leuciscus).
- 11Any of various species of hesperiid butterfly.
Etymology
From Middle English dart, from Old French dart, dard (“dart”), from Medieval Latin dardus, from Frankish *darōþu (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *darōþuz (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- (“to leap, spring”). Compare Old High German tart (“javelin, dart”), Old English daroþ, dearod (“javelin, spear, dart”), Swedish dart (“dart, dagger”), Icelandic darraður, darr, dör (“dart, spear”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adrt,darrt,dartt,datr,ddart,drat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dart - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Using “dart”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-A-R-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɑːt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Dr” - see the side-by-side comparison. dart vs Dr
- 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.