filch
/fɪlt͡ʃ/
"filch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“filch” is an uncommon English word, ranked #98,116 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #98,116
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | filch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fɪlt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #98,116 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “filch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for filch is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɪlt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #98,116 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.".
No misspelling variants are generated for filch in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also relate… The correct English form is filch, spelled F-I-L-C-H.
Definition
- 1To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
Etymology
From Middle English filchen (“to pilfer, steal”). The further origin of the word is uncertain, but it is likely from or related to Old English fylċian (“to marshal troops”) and Old English ġefylċe (“band of men, army, host”), which would make it also related to folk.
This word in other languages
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 “filch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-I-L-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɪlt͡ʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.