fag
/ˈfæɡ/
"fag" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fag” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,083) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #19,083
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.
Corpus desk
Index EN-fag · fag · English
fag · rank #19,083 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,083
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH eyewitness
Nearest frequency peer: eyewitness (-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 neighbours of confusable “fag”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- eureka
eureka
80,921 corpus weight
- exec
exec
80,920 corpus weight
- eyewitness
eyewitness
80,919 corpus weight
- fag
fag
80,918 corpus weight
- favours
favours
80,917 corpus weight
- fil
fil
80,916 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “fag” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | fag |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfæɡ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,083 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “fag”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for fag is neighbouring look-alikes ("fi", "FL", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈfæɡ/. Frequency #19,083 among 2,507 “F” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for fag, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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: Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from Middle English fagge (“flap”). The correct English form is fag, spelled F-A-G.
Definition
- 1In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.
- 2A cigarette.
- 3The worst part or end of a thing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how fag appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He′d Phase Out Fag Industry Los Angeles (UPI) - A UCLA professor has called for the phasing out of the cigarette industry by converting tobacco acres to other crops.
Oh, rent a flat above a shop / And cut your hair and get a job / And smoke some fags and play some pool / Pretend you never went to school
Etymology
Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from Middle English fagge (“flap”).
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 "fag"?
What does "fag" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fag"?
How do you pronounce "fag"?
What is the origin of the word "fag"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fag", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).