focus
/ˈfəʊ.kəs/
"focus" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“focus” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,077 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,077
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
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 | focus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfəʊ.kəs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,077 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “focus” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for focus is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfəʊ.kəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,077 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for focus, with forms such as "fcous", "ffocus", and "foccus". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fou", "four", "foul", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Related to fuel. Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) : "One of the interesting properties of a… The correct English form is focus, spelled F-O-C-U-S.
Definition
- 1A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
- 2A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
- 3The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
- 4The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
- 5Concentration of attention.
- 6Something to which activity, attention or interest is primarily directed.
- 7The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).
- 8The status of being the currently active element in a user interface, often indicated by a visual highlight.
- 9The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
- 10An object used in casting a magic spell.
- 11The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point where a younger fish's scale starts to grow from.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Related to fuel. Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) : "One of the interesting properties of an ellipse is that if there were a light bulb at one focus, then all the light that it emits would reflect off the ellipse and converge at the other focus. This is why Kepler originally used the name focus for these points."
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fcous,ffocus,foccus,focsu,focuss,foucs,ofcus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of focus - 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 “focus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-C-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfəʊ.kəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fou” - see the side-by-side comparison. focus vs fou
- 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.