drunk

Name: drunk, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/dɹʌŋk/

//dɹʌŋk// adj

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“drunk” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,439. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,439
frequency rank, English: 26,416
“D” headwords: 8
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.

Corpus desk

Index EN-drunk · drunk · English

drunk · rank #2,439 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #2,439
LEN-MID 5 letters
VOW-1 1 vowel
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 8 variants
BOOK-DENSE 26,416
PHOTO-FINISH draft

Nearest frequency peer: draft (-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.

desire

97,565
destroyed

97,564
draft

97,563
drunk

97,562
essential

97,561
fail

97,560

What this shows Bars show where “drunk” 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).

drunk vs dun

60% similar

drunk vs duck

60% similar

drunk vs Dunn

40% similar

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

Key facts for drunk
Property	Value
Headword	drunk
Language	English
Part of speech	Adjective
IPA	/dɹʌŋk/
Letters	5
Frequency rank	#2,439
Misspellings tracked	8
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “drunk” 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). drunk lands here:

#2,439

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

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

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around drunk (IPA /dɹʌŋk/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #2,439 among 26,416 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for drunk, with forms such as "ddrunk", "drnuk", and "drrunk". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "dun", "duck", "Dunn", 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 drunke, drunken, ydrunke, ydrunken, from Old English druncen, ġedruncen (“drunk”), from Proto-Germanic *drunkanaz, *gadrunkanaz (“drunk; drunken”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian … The correct English form is drunk, spelled D-R-U-N-K.

Definition

1
Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.
2
Habitually or frequently in a state of intoxication.
3
Elated or emboldened.
4
Drenched or saturated with moisture or liquid.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

So I took a great dry gourd and, cutting open the head, scooped out the inside and cleaned it; after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew hard by and squeezed them into the gourd, till it was full of the juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set in the sun, where I left it for some days, until it became strong wine; and every day I used to drin…
"What part of 'you got drunk' did our parents misunderstand?" "I only drank a few shots!"

Etymology

From Middle English drunke, drunken, ydrunke, ydrunken, from Old English druncen, ġedruncen (“drunk”), from Proto-Germanic *drunkanaz, *gadrunkanaz (“drunk; drunken”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian dronken, West Frisian dronken, Dutch dronken, gedronken, German Low German drunken, bedrunken, German trunken, getrunken, betrunken, Swedish drucken, Icelandic drukkinn.

Synonyms

boozy sottish wet tipsy buzzed Adrian Quist adrip aled upall mops and broomsarseholed a sheet in the wind a sheet in the wind's eye bedrunken befuddled beliquored besotted besottenbevviedbibacious bibulous binned bingoed bladdered blasted blewed blind blind drunk blitzed blocked blootered blottoed bluebollocksedbombed bosky bottled BrahmsBrahms and Lisztbudgy bungalowedbungfuburlin'cannedclobberedcorned cocked cockeyed crapulous crocked cunted cup-shot cup-shotten cutdead drunkdestroyed disguised drunkdrunk as a piperdrunked updrunken ebriatedebrioseelephant'selephant's trunkelevated faced fap fershnickered flooeyflooredflush flushed flustered fluted fluthered feeling no pain fou four sheets in the wind fresh fried frosted fuckered up fuckfacedfuddledfull fuzzy-headedfuzzy-mindedgassed gatteredgee-eyedgesuipginnedgished glorious groggified groggy half polluted half cuthalf lithalf seas over hammered have drink taken have the sun in one's eyes hazedhigh as a Georgia pinehigh as a kite highhog-whimperinghonkershooched up hooted hoovered hosed how came you so impairedin liquorin one's altitudesin one's cups in the bag in the drink inebriate inebriated inebrious insoberinsobrietousinter poculajakedjarred juicedjuiced upkaylied kiskylampedlangeredlangerslarrupedlash lashed lathered leglessliquored upliquory lit loaded looped loopy looselubedlubed uplubricatedlushedmad with it maggot maggoted mashed maudlinmedicatedmessed up monged mortal mortalled Mozart and Liszt muddled muggy mullered munted muzzy MWI nappy newted nimptopsicalobfuscatedobliviatedoff one's box off one's head off one's tits oiled oiled up Oliver Oliver Twist on the ran tan ossified out of it out of one's boxout of one's faceout of one's head out of sight overcome overrefreshed overtaken paralyticparlaticpickled pie-eyed pixilated plastered ploughed plowed polluted potshot pottedpoundedprimed puggled quisby raddled rat-arsed rattedrazzledripe ripped rolling rubbered saucedsauced upscammeredschloshed schnockered screwed scuttered sewed up shedded shellacked shicker shickered shitty skunked slammed slarmied slizzard sloppy drunk sloshed smashed snockered snookeredsnozzledsnuffysoakensodden soshedsottedsouped-up soused sozzled sozzlyspanceledspannered spiffedsplashedspongy sprung squiffed steamboats stewed stinking stinko stoated stoned stonkered stotious strut swacked tanked tanked up temulenttemulentivethree sheets in the wind three sheets to the wind throwed tight as a tick tight tiltedtippledtired and emotional toasted top-heavy top-heavy with drinktopingtrashed tuned twatfaced twisted wastey wazzed wazzocked well-oiledwelliedwhittledwithered wobbly woozyworse for liquorworse for wear wrecked zoned zonked zootedzorchedzotzed

Antonyms

abstemious clean clearheaded on the wagon sobersober as a judgeteetotal

This word in other languages

borracho(Español)ivre(Français)betrunken(Deutsch)bêbado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

ddrunk
drnuk
drrunk
drukn
drunkk
drunnk
durnk
rdunk

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of drunk - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Edit distance from "drunk"

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

How do you spell "drunk"?

"drunk" is spelled D-R-U-N-K. The IPA pronunciation is /dɹʌŋk/.

What does "drunk" mean?

As an adjective, "drunk" means: Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.

What words are commonly confused with "drunk"?

"drunk" is commonly confused with "dun", "duck", "Dunn". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "drunk"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "drunk" is /dɹʌŋk/. 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 "drunk"?

From Middle English drunke, drunken, ydrunke, ydrunken, from Old English druncen, ġedruncen (“drunk”), from Proto-Germanic *drunkanaz, *gadrunkanaz (“drunk; drunken”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”). Cognate with Saterlan... 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 "drunk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

draft#2,438 finds#2,443 walls#2,422 usual#2,417

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

desire8 variants medium8 variants talks8 variants birds8 variants

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.