difficult
/ˈdɪfɪkəlt/
"difficult" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“difficult” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #903 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #903
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Hard, not easy, requiring much effort.
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 | difficult |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #903 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “difficult” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for difficult is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/. Corpus data places it at rank #903 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for difficult, with forms such as "ddifficult", "dfificult", and "diffciult". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "difficulty", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English difficult (ca. 1400), a back-formation from difficulte (whence modern difficulty), from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see d… The correct English form is difficult, spelled D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T.
Definition
- 1Hard, not easy, requiring much effort.
- 2Hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome.
- 3Unable or unwilling.
Etymology
From Middle English difficult (ca. 1400), a back-formation from difficulte (whence modern difficulty), from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile. Replaced native Middle English earveþ (“difficult, hard”), from Old English earfoþe (“difficult, laborious, full of hardship”), cognate to German Arbeit (“work”). The verb is from the adjective, partly after Middle French difficulter and its etymon Latin difficultō. Compare difficilitate, difficultate, and Italian difficoltare.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddifficult,dfificult,diffciult,difficcult,difficlut,difficullt,difficultt,difficutl,diffiuclt,dificult,dififcult,idfficult
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of difficult - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “difficult”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-F-F-I-C-U-L-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “difficulty” - see the side-by-side comparison. difficult vs difficulty
- 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.