earnest
/ˈɝ.nɪst/
"earnest" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“earnest” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #11,884. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #11,884
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
Corpus desk
Index EN-earnest · earnest · English
earnest · rank #11,884 · 10 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-MID #11,884
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH drunken
Nearest frequency peer: drunken (-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 “earnest”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- dreadful
dreadful
88,119 corpus weight
- drunken
drunken
88,118 corpus weight
- earnest
earnest
88,117 corpus weight
- eng
eng
88,116 corpus weight
- erase
erase
88,115 corpus weight
- evacuated
evacuated
88,114 corpus weight
What this shows “earnest” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | earnest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɝ.nɪst/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #11,884 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “earnest”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around earnest (IPA /ˈɝ.nɪst/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,884 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for earnest, with forms such as "aernest", "eanrest", and "earenst". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "earns", "Ernst", "Ernest", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, ca… The correct English form is earnest, spelled E-A-R-N-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
- 2Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how earnest appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.
That high All-Seer which I dallied with / Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head / And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Etymology
From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”). Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌽𐌹𐌱𐌰 (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”). The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, serious”), from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian ernste (“earnest”), Middle Low German ernest, ernst (“serious, earnest”), German ernst (“serious, earnest”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aernest
- eanrest
- earenst
- earnesst
- earnestt
- earnets
- earnnest
- earnset
- earrnest
- eranest
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of earnest - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "earnest", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).