fight
/faɪt/
"fight" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fight” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #585 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #585
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Senses relating to physical conflict:
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 | fight |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /faɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #585 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fight” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fight is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /faɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #585 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 8 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 fight, with forms such as "ffight", "fgiht", and "figght". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "fit", "fish", "fist", 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 fighten (“to fight”), from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan (“to fight”), from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, … The correct English form is fight, spelled F-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1Senses relating to physical conflict:
- 2Senses relating to physical conflict:
- 3Senses relating to physical conflict:
- 4Senses relating to physical conflict:
- 5Senses relating to physical conflict:
- 6To strive for something; to campaign or contend for success.
- 7To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
- 8Of colours or other design elements: to clash; to fail to harmonize.
Etymology
From Middle English fighten (“to fight”), from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan (“to fight”), from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”). Cognate with Scots fecht (“to fight”), West Frisian fjochtsje, fjuchte (“to fight”), Dutch vechten (“to fight”), Low German fechten (“to fight”), German fechten (“to fight, fence”), Danish fægte (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons)”), Norwegian fekte (“to fence”), Swedish fäkta (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons), to wave vigorously (and carelessly) with one's arms”), Latin pectō (“comb, thrash”, verb), Albanian pjek (“to hit, strive, fight”), Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, “comb or card wool”, verb). Related also to Old English feht (“wool, shaggy pelt, fleece”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffight,fgiht,figght,fighht,fightt,figth,fihgt,ifght
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fight - 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
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Using “fight”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-I-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /faɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fit” - see the side-by-side comparison. fight vs fit
- 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.