doubt
/daʊt/
"doubt" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“doubt” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,333 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #1,333
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 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.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for doubt is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /daʊt/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,333 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "doubt"?
What does "doubt" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "doubt"?
How do you pronounce "doubt"?
What is the origin of the word "doubt"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “doubt”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-U-B-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /daʊt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “dub” - see the side-by-side comparison. doubt vs dub
- 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.