ego
/ˈiɡo/
"ego" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ego” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,898 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,898
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The self, especially with a sense of self-importance.
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 | ego |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiɡo/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #6,898 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ego” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ego is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈiɡo/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,898 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ego, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ex", "et", "EU", 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 Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich. The correct English form is ego, spelled E-G-O.
Definition
- 1The self, especially with a sense of self-importance.
- 2The most central part of the mind, which mediates with one's surroundings.
- 3A person's self-esteem and opinion of themselves.
- 4The individual from whose point of view a family tree or pedigree chart is drawn, or the reference point from whom kinship terminology is relative. (Used without the definite article the.)
Etymology
From Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich.
This word in other languages
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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Using “ego”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈiɡo/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ex” - see the side-by-side comparison. ego vs ex
- 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.