fetus
/ˈfiːtəs/
"fetus" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fetus” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,977 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,977
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An unborn or unhatched vertebrate showing signs of the mature animal.
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 | fetus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfiːtəs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,977 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fetus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fetus is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfiːtəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,977 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for fetus, with forms such as "eftus", "fetsu", and "fettus". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "feu", "fits", "feud", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: A learned borrowing from Latin fētus (“offspring”). Doublet of fawn. The correct English form is fetus, spelled F-E-T-U-S.
Definition
- 1An unborn or unhatched vertebrate showing signs of the mature animal.
- 2A human embryo after the eighth week of gestation.
- 3A neonate.
Etymology
A learned borrowing from Latin fētus (“offspring”). Doublet of fawn.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eftus,fetsu,fettus,fetuss,feuts,ffetus,fteus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fetus - 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
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Using “fetus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-E-T-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfiːtəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “feu” - see the side-by-side comparison. fetus vs feu
- 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.