discuss
/dɪˈskʌs/
"discuss" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“discuss” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,197 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #2,197
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To converse or debate concerning a particular topic.
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 | discuss |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈskʌs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,197 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “discuss” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for discuss is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈskʌs/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,197 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for discuss, with forms such as "ddiscuss", "dicsuss", and "disccuss". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "disuse", "dismiss", "disgust", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English discussen, from Middle French and Anglo-Norman discusser (French discuter), from Latin discussus, past participle of discutiō (“to strike or shake apart, break up, scatter; examine, discuss”), from dis- (“apart”) + quatiō (“to shake”). The correct English form is discuss, spelled D-I-S-C-U-S-S.
Definition
- 1To converse or debate concerning a particular topic.
- 2To communicate, tell, or disclose (information, a message, etc.).
- 3To break to pieces; to shatter.
- 4To deal with, in eating or drinking; consume.
- 5To examine or search thoroughly; to exhaust a remedy against, as against a principal debtor before proceeding against the surety.
- 6To drive away, disperse, shake off; said especially of tumors.
Etymology
From Middle English discussen, from Middle French and Anglo-Norman discusser (French discuter), from Latin discussus, past participle of discutiō (“to strike or shake apart, break up, scatter; examine, discuss”), from dis- (“apart”) + quatiō (“to shake”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddiscuss,dicsuss,disccuss,discsus,disscuss,disucss,dsicuss,idscuss
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of discuss - 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 “discuss”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-S-C-U-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈskʌs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “disuse” - see the side-by-side comparison. discuss vs disuse
- 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.