distress
/dɪˈstɹɛs/
"distress" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“distress” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,675. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,675
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
Corpus desk
Index EN-distress · distress · English
distress · rank #7,675 · 11 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,675
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH depot
Nearest frequency peer: depot (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “distress”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- denying
denying
92,328 corpus weight
- depot
depot
92,327 corpus weight
- distress
distress
92,326 corpus weight
- documentati…
documentation
92,325 corpus weight
- doubts
doubts
92,324 corpus weight
- dramatically
dramatically
92,323 corpus weight
What this shows “distress” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | distress |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,675 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “distress”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around distress (IPA /dɪˈstɹɛs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,675 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for distress, with forms such as "ddistress", "disrtess", and "disstress". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "distrust", "distressed", "digress", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō… The correct English form is distress, spelled D-I-S-T-R-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
- 2A cause of such discomfort.
- 3Serious danger.
- 4An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
- 5A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
- 6The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how distress appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
To heighten his distress, he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficultie…
At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.
Etymology
The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”). The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddistress
- disrtess
- disstress
- disterss
- distres
- distrress
- distrses
- disttress
- ditsress
- dsitress
- idstress
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of distress - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "distress", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).