dearth
/dɜːθ/
"dearth" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dearth” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,948 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #31,948
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
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 | dearth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɜːθ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #31,948 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dearth” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dearth is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɜːθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,948 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for dearth, with forms such as "daerth", "ddearth", and "dearht". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "death", "depth", "deaths", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested at least as early as the late 1300s, and appearing in Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530) as well as the Coverdale Bible (1535). From Middle English derth, derthe, derþe, probably from Old English *dīerþ, *dīerþu, from Proto-West Germanic *diuriþu, f… The correct English form is dearth, spelled D-E-A-R-T-H.
Definition
- 1A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
- 2Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
- 3Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.
Etymology
First attested at least as early as the late 1300s, and appearing in Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530) as well as the Coverdale Bible (1535). From Middle English derth, derthe, derþe, probably from Old English *dīerþ, *dīerþu, from Proto-West Germanic *diuriþu, from Proto-Germanic *diuriþō (“costliness, preciousness, honour”); corresponding to dear + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Old Saxon diuriða (“glory, honour; preciousness”), West Frisian djoerte (“love, dearness, value, worth”), Dutch duurte (“dearness; scarcity, dearth”), Icelandic dýrð (“honour, glory”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: daerth,ddearth,dearht,dearrth,dearthh,deartth,deatrh,derath,edarth
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dearth - 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.
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 “dearth”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-A-R-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɜːθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “death” - see the side-by-side comparison. dearth vs death
- 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.