ern
/ɜːn/
"ern" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ern” is uncommon English (frequency #65,097 among 18,836 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,097
- frequency rank, English
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of erne.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ern · ern · English
ern · rank #65,097 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #65,097
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 18,836
- PHOTO-FINISH erk
Nearest frequency peer: erk (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ern”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- episcopate
episcopate
34,910 corpus weight
- equalizing
equalizing
34,909 corpus weight
- equilibria
equilibria
34,908 corpus weight
- erk
erk
34,905 corpus weight
- ern
ern
34,904 corpus weight
- espy
espy
34,902 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ern” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ern |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɜːn/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #65,097 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ern” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ern is uncommon English at frequency #65,097 among 18,836 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɜːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of erne.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ern, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Alteration of erne. The correct English form is ern, spelled E-R-N.
Definition
- 1Alternative spelling of erne.
Etymology
Alteration of erne.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ern", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.