flirt
/flɜːt/
"flirt" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flirt” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,539. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #14,539
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
Corpus desk
Index EN-flirt · flirt · English
flirt · rank #14,539 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #14,539
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH Fischer
Nearest frequency peer: Fischer (-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 “flirt”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- fidelity
fidelity
85,465 corpus weight
- finely
finely
85,464 corpus weight
- Fischer
Fischer
85,463 corpus weight
- flirt
flirt
85,462 corpus weight
- fluent
fluent
85,461 corpus weight
- flute
flute
85,460 corpus weight
What this shows “flirt” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | flirt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /flɜːt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #14,539 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “flirt”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around flirt (IPA /flɜːt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,539 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for flirt, with forms such as "fflirt", "filrt", and "flirrt". 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, "fort", "flor", "float", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, comp… The correct English form is flirt, spelled F-L-I-R-T.
Definition
- 1A sudden jerk; a quick throw or cast; a darting motion
- 2Someone who flirts a lot or enjoys flirting; a flirtatious person.
- 3An act of flirting.
- 4A tentative or brief, passing engagement with something.
- 5A brief shower (of rain or snow).
- 6Russula vesca, an edible woodland mushroom.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how flirt appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
several little flirts and vibrations
with many a flirt and flutter
Etymology
1553, from the merger of Early Modern English flirt (“to flick”), flurt (“to mock, jibe, scorn”), and flirt, flurt (“a giddy girl”). Of obscure origin and relation. Apparently related to similar words in Germanic, all of apparently onomatopoeic origin, compare Low German flirt (“a flick of the fingers, a light blow”), Low German flirtje (“a giddy girl”), Low German flirtje (“a flirt”), German Flittchen (“a flirt; tart; hussy”), Norwegian flira (“to giggle, titter”). Compare also Early Modern English jillflirt, gillian flirt, and flirt-gill (“a flirt”), and Scots flird (“a trifling", also, "to jibe, jeer at, talk idly, flirt, flaunt”), which is perhaps from Middle English flerd (“mockery, fraud, deception”), from Old English fleard (“nonsense, vanity, folly, deception”); potentially related to Icelandic flærð (“trickiness, deceit”), Swedish flärd (“vanity, frivolity, flamboyance”), Dutch flard (“tatter, shred”). See flird.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- fflirt
- filrt
- flirrt
- flirtt
- flitr
- fllirt
- flrit
- lfirt
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flirt - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "flirt", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).