flutter
/ˈflʌtə/
"flutter" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flutter” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,795 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #26,795
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To flap or wave quickly but irregularly.
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 | flutter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈflʌtə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #26,795 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “flutter” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for flutter is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈflʌtə/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,795 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for flutter, with forms such as "fflutter", "fllutter", and "fltuter". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "flute", "fatter", "fitter", 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 floteren, from Old English floterian, flotorian (“to float about, flutter”), from Proto-Germanic *flutrōną, frequentative of Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), equivalent to float + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisia… The correct English form is flutter, spelled F-L-U-T-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1To flap or wave quickly but irregularly.
- 2Of a winged animal: to flap the wings without flying; to fly with a light flapping of the wings.
- 3To undergo divergent oscillations (potentially to the point of causing structural failure) due to a positive feedback loop between elastic deformation and aerodynamic forces.
- 4To cause something to flap.
- 5To drive into disorder; to throw into confusion.
- 6To be in a state of agitation or uncertainty.
- 7To be frivolous.
- 8To subject to a lie detector test.
Etymology
From Middle English floteren, from Old English floterian, flotorian (“to float about, flutter”), from Proto-Germanic *flutrōną, frequentative of Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), equivalent to float + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian flodderje (“to flutter, beat”), Dutch flodderen (“to flutter, wave”), Low German fluttern, fluddern (“to flutter”), German flittern (“to sparkle, glitter”). More at float.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fflutter,fllutter,fltuter,fluter,flutetr,flutterr,fluttre,fultter,lfutter
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flutter - 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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Using “flutter”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-L-U-T-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈflʌtə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “flute” - see the side-by-side comparison. flutter vs flute
- 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.