ford

/fɔːd/

//fɔːd// noun

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

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

The verdict

“ford” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,996. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,996
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a cros...

Corpus desk

Index EN-ford · ford · English

ford · rank #2,996 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,996
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH fingers

Nearest frequency peer: fingers (-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 “ford”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “ford” 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).

ford vs fox
50% similar
ford vs fur
50% similar
ford vs fry
50% similar

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

Key facts for ford
PropertyValue
Headwordford
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/fɔːd/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,996
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “ford”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).fordlands 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 “fingers” (#2,995), “founded” (#2,997), “fairly” (#2,994). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “ford” is #2,996. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around ford (IPA /fɔːd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,996 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for ford, with forms such as "fford", "fodr", and "fordd". 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, "fox", "fur", "fry", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *pértus Proto-Germanic *furduz Proto-West Germanic *furdu Old English ford English ford Inherited from Middle English fōrd, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germani… The correct English form is ford, spelled F-O-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
  2. 2
    A stream; a current.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. He swam the Esk river where ford there was none.
  2. With water of the ford / Or of the clouds.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *pértus Proto-Germanic *furduz Proto-West Germanic *furdu Old English ford English ford Inherited from Middle English fōrd, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”). Doublet of firth, fjord, and fjard, all via Old Norse; and port, distantly via Latin. Cognate with Low German Föörd, Dutch voord, German Furt, Norwegian and Danish fjord. See also forth and Persian پل (pol, “bridge”).

This word in other languages

vado(Español)gué(Français)Furt(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • fford
  • fodr
  • fordd
  • forrd
  • frod
  • ofrd

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ford - 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.

fford1fodr2fordd1forrd1frod2ofrd2
Edit distance from "ford"

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 "ford"?
"ford" is spelled F-O-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is /fɔːd/.
What does "ford" mean?
As a noun, "ford" means: A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a cros...
What words are commonly confused with "ford"?
"ford" is commonly confused with "fox", "fur", "fry". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ford"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ford" is /fɔːd/. 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 "ford"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Indo-European *pértus Proto-Germanic *furduz Proto-West Germanic *furdu Old English ford English ford Inherited from Middle English fōrd, from Old English ford, from Proto-We... 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 "ford", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

gang#2,999eggs#2,988lift#3,006aged#2,977

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

porn6 variantssons6 variantsquote6 variantslock6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list