fierce
/fɪəs/
"fierce" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fierce” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,036 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #8,036
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Exceedingly violent, severe, ferocious, cruel or savage.
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 | fierce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /fɪəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #8,036 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fierce” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fierce is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɪəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,036 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 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 fierce, with forms such as "feirce", "ffierce", and "fiecre". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "fire", "force", "fiery", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fers, fiers, borrowed from Old French fers (“wild", "ferocious”), nominative of fer, from Latin ferus (“wild", "untamed”). The correct English form is fierce, spelled F-I-E-R-C-E.
Definition
- 1Exceedingly violent, severe, ferocious, cruel or savage.
- 2Resolute or strenuously active.
- 3Threatening in appearance or demeanor.
- 4Excellent, very good.
- 5Of exceptional quality, exhibiting boldness or chutzpah.
Etymology
From Middle English fers, fiers, borrowed from Old French fers (“wild", "ferocious”), nominative of fer, from Latin ferus (“wild", "untamed”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: feirce,ffierce,fiecre,fiercce,fierec,fierrce,firece,iferce
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fierce - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "fierce"?
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Using “fierce”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-I-E-R-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɪəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fire” - see the side-by-side comparison. fierce vs fire
- 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.