fatherhood
/ˈfɑ.ðɚˌhʊd/
"fatherhood" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fatherhood” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #33,230 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #33,230
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state of being a father (biological father, stepfather, adoptive father, foster father; sometimes the biological father specifically).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fatherhood |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɑ.ðɚˌhʊd/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #33,230 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fatherhood” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fatherhood is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɑ.ðɚˌhʊd/. Corpus data places it at rank #33,230 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The state of being a father (biological father, stepfather, adoptive father, foster father; sometimes the biological father specifically).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for fatherhood, with forms such as "aftherhood", "fahterhood", and "fatehrhood". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English faderhode, fadirhode, fadirhede, equivalent to father + -hood. The correct English form is fatherhood, spelled F-A-T-H-E-R-H-O-O-D.
Definition
- 1The state of being a father (biological father, stepfather, adoptive father, foster father; sometimes the biological father specifically).
Etymology
From Middle English faderhode, fadirhode, fadirhede, equivalent to father + -hood.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aftherhood,fahterhood,fatehrhood,fathehrood,fatherhhood,fatherhod,fatherhodo,fatherhoodd,fatherohod,fatherrhood,fathherhood,fathrehood,fattherhood,ffatherhood,ftaherhood
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fatherhood - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "fatherhood"?
What does "fatherhood" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fatherhood”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-T-H-E-R-H-O-O-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɑ.ðɚˌhʊd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.