footnote
/ˈfʊtˌnəʊt/
"footnote" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“footnote” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,273 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #23,273
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A short piece of text, often numbered, placed at the bottom of a printed page, that adds a comment, citation, reference etc, to a designated part of the main text.
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 | footnote |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfʊtˌnəʊt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #23,273 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “footnote” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for footnote is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfʊtˌnəʊt/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,273 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for footnote, with forms such as "ffootnote", "foontote", and "footnnote". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "fortnite", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From foot + note. The correct English form is footnote, spelled F-O-O-T-N-O-T-E.
Definition
- 1A short piece of text, often numbered, placed at the bottom of a printed page, that adds a comment, citation, reference etc, to a designated part of the main text.
- 2An event of lesser importance than some larger event to which it is related.
- 3A qualification to the import of something.
Etymology
From foot + note.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffootnote,foontote,footnnote,footnoet,footnotte,footntoe,footonte,foottnote,fotnote,fotonote,ofotnote
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of footnote - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "footnote"?
What does "footnote" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “footnote”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-O-T-N-O-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfʊtˌnəʊt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fortnite” - see the side-by-side comparison. footnote vs fortnite
- 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.