doctor
/ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/
"doctor" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doctor” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,332 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,332
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the pos...
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 | doctor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,332 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doctor” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for doctor is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,332 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 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 doctor, with forms such as "dcotor", "ddoctor", and "docctor". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "door", "donor", "doctors", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, i… The correct English form is doctor, spelled D-O-C-T-O-R.
Definition
- 1A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK.
- 2A person who has attained a doctorate, such as a Ph.D. or Th.D. or one of many other terminal degrees conferred by a college or university.
- 3A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.
- 4A nickname for a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.
- 5A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.
- 6Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.
- 7A fish, the friar skate.
- 8A witchdoctor.
- 9A ship's cook.
Etymology
From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: dcotor,ddoctor,docctor,docotr,doctorr,doctro,docttor,dotcor,odctor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of doctor - 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 “doctor”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-C-T-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “door” - see the side-by-side comparison. doctor vs door
- 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.