fetch
/fɛt͡ʃ/
"fetch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fetch” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,046 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #12,046
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
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 | fetch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fɛt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,046 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fetch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fetch is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɛt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,046 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for fetch, with forms such as "eftch", "fecth", and "fetcch". 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. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "FTC", "fete", "fetus", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is derived from Middle English fecchen (“to get and bring back, fetch; to come for, get and take away; to steal; to carry away to kill; to search for; to obtain, procure”) [and other forms], from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean (“to fetch, brin… The correct English form is fetch, spelled F-E-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get.
- 2To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.
- 3To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.
- 4To bring oneself; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward.
- 5To take (a breath); to heave (a sigh).
- 6To cause to come; to bring to a particular state.
- 7To recall from a swoon; to revive; sometimes with to.
- 8To reduce; to throw.
- 9To accomplish; to achieve; to perform, with certain objects or actions.
- 10To make (a pump) draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English fecchen (“to get and bring back, fetch; to come for, get and take away; to steal; to carry away to kill; to search for; to obtain, procure”) [and other forms], from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean (“to fetch, bring; to draw; to gain, take; to seek”), a variant of fetian, fatian (“to bring near, fetch; to acquire, obtain; to bring on, induce; to fetch a wife, marry”) and possibly related to Old English facian, fācian (“to acquire, obtain; to try to obtain; to get; to get to, reach”), both from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną (“to hold, seize; to fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten (“to apprehend, catch; to grasp; to understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eftch,fecth,fetcch,fetchh,fethc,fettch,ffetch,ftech
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fetch - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "fetch"?
What does "fetch" mean?
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Using “fetch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-E-T-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɛt͡ʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “FTC” - see the side-by-side comparison. fetch vs FTC
- 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.