five

/faɪv/

//faɪv// num

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"five" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“five” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #336. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#336
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A numerical value equal to 5; the number following four and preceding six.

Corpus desk

Index EN-five · five · English

five · rank #336 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #336
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH face

Nearest frequency peer: face (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “five”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “five” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

five vs fix
50% similar
five vs foe
50% similar
five vs FTE
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for five
PropertyValue
Headwordfive
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNumeral
IPA/faɪv/
Letters4
Frequency rank#336
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “five”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).fivelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “face” (#335), “kind” (#337), “car” (#334). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “five” is #336. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around five (IPA /faɪv/), anumeral. Corpus frequency is #336 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for five, with forms such as "ffive", "fiev", and "fivve". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fix", "foe", "FTE", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *pénkʷe From Middle English fyf, fyve, from Old English fīf (“five”), from Proto-West Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. See also West Frisian fiif, Dutch vijf, German fünf, Norwegian and… The correct English form is five, spelled F-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A numerical value equal to 5; the number following four and preceding six.
  2. 2
    Describing a group or set with five elements.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how five appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The r-stems had apparently been reduced to the five nuclear kinship terms that still survive in Modern English.
  2. The Texas Rangers investigation is one of at least five announced investigations targeting EPIC or EPIC City. Those include investigations led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas State Board of Securities and the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Etymology

PIE word *pénkʷe From Middle English fyf, fyve, from Old English fīf (“five”), from Proto-West Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. See also West Frisian fiif, Dutch vijf, German fünf, Norwegian and Swedish fem, Icelandic fimm; also Welsh pump, Latin quinque, Tocharian A päñ, Tocharian B piś, Lithuanian penki, Russian пять (pjatʹ), Albanian pesë, pêsë, Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Armenian հինգ (hing), Persian پنج (panj), Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca). Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, pimp (“five”), ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii. The nasal *m in Proto-Germanic *fimf was lost through a sound change known as the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law.

This word in other languages

cinco(Español)cinq(Français)fünf(Deutsch)cinco(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffive
  • fiev
  • fivve
  • fvie
  • ifve

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of five - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ffive1fiev2fivve1fvie2ifve2
Edit distance from "five"

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 "five"?
"five" is spelled F-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /faɪv/.
What does "five" mean?
As a numeral, "five" means: A numerical value equal to 5; the number following four and preceding six.
What words are commonly confused with "five"?
"five" is commonly confused with "fix", "foe", "FTE". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "five"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "five" is /faɪv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "five"?
PIE word *pénkʷe From Middle English fyf, fyve, from Old English fīf (“five”), from Proto-West Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. See also West Frisian fiif, Dutch vijf, German fünf, Nor... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "five", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

face#335kind#337hope#346area#325

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

open5 variantspost5 variantslater5 variantsside5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list