day
/deɪ̯/
"day" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“day” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #120) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #120
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.
Corpus desk
Index EN-day · day · English
day · rank #120 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #120
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH being
Nearest frequency peer: being (-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 “day”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- year
year
99,884 corpus weight
- years
years
99,883 corpus weight
- being
being
99,882 corpus weight
- day
day
99,881 corpus weight
- too
too
99,880 corpus weight
- going
going
99,879 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “day” 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 | day |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /deɪ̯/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #120 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “day” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for day is neighbouring look-alikes ("do", "Dr", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /deɪ̯/. Frequency #120 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for day, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "do", "Dr", "de", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-? Proto-Germanic *dagaz Proto-West Germanic *dag Old English dæġ Middle English day English day Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“d… The correct English form is day, spelled D-A-Y.
Definition
- 1The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.
- 2A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.
- 3A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.
- 4A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.
- 5A 24-hour period beginning at 6am or sunrise.
- 6A period of time between two set times which mark the beginning and the end of day in a calendar, such as from midnight to the following midnight or (Judaism) from nightfall to the following nightfall.
- 7The rotational period of a planet.
- 8The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job, school, etc.
- 9An observance lasting for a day, such as an annual holiday.
- 10A specified time or period; time, considered with reference to the existence or prominence of a person or thing; age; time; era.
- 11A period of contention of a day or less.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how day appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
day and night; I work at night and sleep during the day.
The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams,[…].
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-? Proto-Germanic *dagaz Proto-West Germanic *dag Old English dæġ Middle English day English day Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Cognates Cognate with Scots day, dei, dey, dy (“day”), Yola daie, dei, dey, die (“day”), North Frisian dai, doi, däi (“day”), Saterland Frisian Dai (“day”), West Frisian dei (“day”), Bavarian Dåg, Tåg (“day”), Central Franconian Daach (“day”), Cimbrian tag, tage (“day”), Dutch dag, dagge (“day”), German Tag (“day”), German Low German Dag, Dagg (“day”), Limburgish Daach, Daag (“day”), Luxembourgish Dag (“day”), Mòcheno ta (“day”), Vilamovian taog (“day”), West Flemish dag (“day”), Yiddish טאָג (tog, “day”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dag (“day”), Faroese and Icelandic dagur (“day”), Norn dagh (“day”), Crimean Gothic tag (“day”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, “day”), Vandalic *dag- (“day”); also Breton deviñ (“to burn”), Cornish dewi (“to kindle”), Irish daigh (“fire, flame”), dóigh (“to burn, singe; sear, scorch”), Manx daah (“to scorch, singe; to cauterize”), Scottish Gaelic dòth (“scorch, singe; burn”), Welsh deifio (“to scorch, singe”), Latin foveō (“to warm, keep warm”), Greek τέφρα (téfra, “ash, cinder”), Albanian dhez, ndez (“to kindle, light”), Old Prussian dagis (“summer”), Armenian հրդեհ (hrdeh, “fire”), Sanskrit दह् (dah, “to burn, consume by fire, scorch, roast”).
This word in other languages
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "day", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "day". Here's where to go from here.
- "day" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "do". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #120 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–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.