fab
/fæb/
"fab" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fab” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #17,363) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #17,363
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fabulous (great or spectacular).
Corpus desk
Index EN-fab · fab · English
fab · rank #17,363 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #17,363
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH evade
Nearest frequency peer: evade (-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 “fab”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- err
err
82,642 corpus weight
- espresso
espresso
82,640 corpus weight
- evade
evade
82,639 corpus weight
- fab
fab
82,638 corpus weight
- fairs
fairs
82,637 corpus weight
- freaky
freaky
82,636 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “fab” 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).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /fæb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #17,363 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fab” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for fab is neighbouring look-alikes ("fi", "FL", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /fæb/. Frequency #17,363 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Gloss: "Fabulous (great or spectacular).".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for fab, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fi", "FL", "FM", 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 fabulous, by shortening. The correct English form is fab, spelled F-A-B.
Definition
- 1Fabulous (great or spectacular).
Etymology
From fabulous, by shortening.
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 "fab"?
What does "fab" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fab"?
How do you pronounce "fab"?
What is the origin of the word "fab"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fab", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "fab". Here's where to go from here.
- "fab" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "fi". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #17,363 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.