doubt
/daʊt/
"doubt" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doubt” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,333. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,333
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.
Corpus desk
Index EN-doubt · doubt · English
doubt · rank #1,333 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,333
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 26,416
- PHOTO-FINISH doctor
Nearest frequency peer: doctor (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “doubt”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- directly
directly
98,671 corpus weight
- disease
disease
98,670 corpus weight
- doctor
doctor
98,669 corpus weight
- doubt
doubt
98,668 corpus weight
- drink
drink
98,667 corpus weight
- driving
driving
98,666 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “doubt” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | doubt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /daʊt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,333 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doubt” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around doubt (IPA /daʊt/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,333 among 26,416 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for doubt, with forms such as "ddoubt", "dobut", and "doubbt". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dub", "dust", "Doug", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Latin dubō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin -itō Latin dubitō Old French doterbor. Middle English douten ▲ Old French doter … The correct English form is doubt, spelled D-O-U-B-T.
Definition
- 1To be undecided about; to lack confidence in; to disbelieve, to question.
- 2To harbour suspicion about; suspect.
- 3To anticipate with dread or fear; to apprehend.
- 4To fill with fear; to affright.
- 5To dread, to fear.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how doubt appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He doubted that was really what you meant.
I had no wish to go, though I doubt if they would have noticed me even if I had.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin dubō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō Latin -itō Latin dubitō Old French doterbor. Middle English douten ▲ Old French doter Old French doutebor. Middle English doute ▲ English dubiousinflu. ▲ Latin dubitōinflu. English doubt The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to doubt, fear, worry”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Spelling reformers of the early modern period added the letter b to reflect the Latin root dubitō, but it has never been pronounced in English. The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertainty, hesitation; questionable point; anxiety, fear, reverence”) [and other forms], from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt, suspect”)); see further etymology above. Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddoubt
- dobut
- doubbt
- doubtt
- doutb
- duobt
- odubt
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of doubt - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "doubt", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
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.