dough

/dəʊ/

//dəʊ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"dough" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“dough” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,783. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,783
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A thick, malleable substance made by mixing flour with other ingredients such as water, eggs, or butter, that is made into a particular form and then baked.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dough · dough · English

dough · rank #8,783 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,783
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH dug

Nearest frequency peer: dug (+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 “dough”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “dough” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dough vs dug
60% similar
dough vs duh
60% similar
dough vs drug
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dough
PropertyValue
Headworddough
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dəʊ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#8,783
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “dough”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).doughlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “dug” (#8,784), “dentist” (#8,781), “endangered” (#8,785). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “dough” is #8,783. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around dough (IPA /dəʊ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,783 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for dough, with forms such as "ddough", "doguh", and "douggh". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dug", "duh", "drug", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dow, dogh, dagh, from Old English dāg, from Proto-Germanic *daigaz (“dough”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, mold”). Cognate with Scots daich, dauch, doach (“dough”), North Frisian dii, Jai (“dough”), West Frisian da… The correct English form is dough, spelled D-O-U-G-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    A thick, malleable substance made by mixing flour with other ingredients such as water, eggs, or butter, that is made into a particular form and then baked.
  2. 2
    Money.
  3. 3
    Clipping of doughboy (“an infantryman”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dough appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Pizza dough is very stretchy.
  2. His mortgage payments left him short on dough.

Etymology

From Middle English dow, dogh, dagh, from Old English dāg, from Proto-Germanic *daigaz (“dough”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, mold”). Cognate with Scots daich, dauch, doach (“dough”), North Frisian dii, Jai (“dough”), West Frisian daai (“dough”), Dutch deeg (“dough”), German Teig (“dough”), Low German and Luxembourgish Deeg (“dough”), Vilamovian taag (“dough”), Yiddish טייג (teyg, “dough”), Danish dej (“dough”), Faroese deiggj (“dough”), Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk deig (“dough”), Swedish deg (“dough”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌲𐍃 (daigs, “dough”). The derivation of the second meaning (of money) is obscure, but dates to the mid 19th century.

This word in other languages

masa(Español)pâte(Français)Teig(Deutsch)massa(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddough
  • doguh
  • douggh
  • doughh
  • douhg
  • duogh
  • odugh

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dough - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddough1doguh2douggh1doughh1douhg2duogh2odugh2
Edit distance from "dough"

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 "dough"?
"dough" is spelled D-O-U-G-H. The IPA pronunciation is /dəʊ/.
What does "dough" mean?
As a noun, "dough" means: A thick, malleable substance made by mixing flour with other ingredients such as water, eggs, or butter, that is made into a particular form and then baked.
What words are commonly confused with "dough"?
"dough" is commonly confused with "dug", "duh", "drug". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dough"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dough" is /dəʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "dough"?
From Middle English dow, dogh, dagh, from Old English dāg, from Proto-Germanic *daigaz (“dough”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, mold”). Cognate with Scots daich, dauch, doach (“dough”), North Frisian dii, Jai (“dough”), West ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dough", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

COVID#8,774coral#8,770hardy#8,799brett#8,762

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

irony7 variantsJoyce7 variantsBiden7 variantstuned7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list