drought

/dɹaʊt/

//dɹaʊt// noun

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

"drought" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“drought” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,276 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#8,276
frequency rank, English
7
letters
11
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

drought vs dough
71% similar
drought vs draught
86% similar
drought vs doughty
71% similar

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

Key facts for drought
PropertyValue
Headworddrought
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɹaʊt/
Letters7
Frequency rank#8,276
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “drought” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). drought lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for drought is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɹaʊt/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,276 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for drought, with forms such as "ddrought", "dorught", and "droguht". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "dough", "draught", "doughty", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry + -t (abstract nominal suffix). The correct English form is drought, spelled D-R-O-U-G-H-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.
  2. 2
    A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.
  3. 3
    dryness, aridness, dry heat

Etymology

From Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry + -t (abstract nominal suffix).

This word in other languages

sequía(Español)sécheresse(Français)Dürre(Deutsch)seca(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddrought,dorught,droguht,drougght,droughht,droughtt,drougth,drouhgt,drrought,druoght,rdought

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of drought - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ddrought1dorught2droguht2drougght1droughht1droughtt1drougth2drouhgt2
Edit distance from "drought"

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 "drought"?
"drought" is spelled D-R-O-U-G-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is /dɹaʊt/.
What does "drought" mean?
As a noun, "drought" means: A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.
What words are commonly confused with "drought"?
"drought" is commonly confused with "dough", "draught", "doughty". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "drought"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "drought" is /dɹaʊt/. 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 "drought"?
From Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry + -t (abstract nominal suffix). 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.

Using “drought”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is D-R-O-U-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /dɹaʊt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “dough” - see the side-by-side comparison. drought vs dough
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list