fearful

Name: fearful, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl/

//ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl// adj

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“fearful” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,344. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,344
frequency rank, English: 2,507
“F” headwords: 10
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Frightening; causing fear.

Corpus desk

Index EN-fearful · fearful · English

fearful · rank #13,344 · 10 variants · 0 confusables

FREQ-MID #13,344
LEN-LONG 7 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-0 No pairs
VAR-MID 10 variants
BOOK-MID 2,507
PHOTO-FINISH fats

Nearest frequency peer: fats (-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.

fascism

86,659
fats

86,658
fearful

86,657
festive

86,656
flyer

86,654
foreman

86,652

What this shows “fearful” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Key facts for fearful
Property	Value
Headword	fearful
Language	English
Part of speech	Adjective
IPA	/ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl/
Letters	7
Frequency rank	#13,344
Misspellings tracked	10
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “fearful”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).fearfullands here:

#13,344

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “fats” (#13,343), “festive” (#13,345), “fascism” (#13,342). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “fearful” is #13,344. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around fearful (IPA /ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #13,344 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for fearful, with forms such as "efarful", "faerful", and "feafrul". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear + -ful. The correct English form is fearful, spelled F-E-A-R-F-U-L.

Definition

1
Frightening; causing fear.
2
Tending to fear; timid.
3
Terrible; shockingly bad.
4
Frightened; filled with terror.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how fearful appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me, But let them hear what fearful words I utter.
In the later Hebrew midrash Lilith is presented as the woman who knows how to recite the fearful name of God to work calamity; that this little girl cries out the fearful name of the sun god and thereby causes an earthquake would indicate that this girl is linked in the structure of the myth with Lilith.

Etymology

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear + -ful.

Synonyms

frightened timid timorous

This word in other languages

timorato(Español)effrayant(Français)furchtbar(Deutsch)amedrontado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

efarful
faerful
feafrul
fearfful
fearflu
fearfull
fearrful
fearufl
feraful
ffearful

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fearful - 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.

Edit distance from "fearful"

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 "fearful"?

"fearful" is spelled F-E-A-R-F-U-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl/.

What does "fearful" mean?

As an adjective, "fearful" means: Frightening; causing fear.

What are common misspellings of "fearful"?

Common misspellings include "efarful", "faerful", "feafrul", "fearfful", "fearflu". The correct spelling is "fearful".

How do you pronounce "fearful"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fearful" is /ˈfɪə(ɹ)fəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What is the origin of the word "fearful"?

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear + -ful. See the full etymology section above for more details.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fearful", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

festive#13,345 fascism#13,342 foreman#13,349 framing#13,350

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

endured10 variants glacier10 variants dictate10 variants cushion10 variants