fortnight
/ˈfɔːt.naɪt/
"fortnight" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fortnight” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,920 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,920
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of 2 weeks.
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 | fortnight |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɔːt.naɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #16,920 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fortnight” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fortnight is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɔːt.naɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,920 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A period of 2 weeks.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for fortnight, with forms such as "ffortnight", "forntight", and "forrtnight". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "fortnightly", "fortnite", "foresight", 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 fourtenyght, fourtene nyght, from Old English fēowertīene niht (literally “fourteen nights"; the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights), equivalent to fourteen + night. Compare sennight. The correct English form is fortnight, spelled F-O-R-T-N-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1A period of 2 weeks.
Etymology
From Middle English fourtenyght, fourtene nyght, from Old English fēowertīene niht (literally “fourteen nights"; the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights), equivalent to fourteen + night. Compare sennight.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffortnight,forntight,forrtnight,fortinght,fortngiht,fortnigght,fortnighht,fortnightt,fortnigth,fortnihgt,fortnnight,forttnight,fotrnight,frotnight,ofrtnight
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fortnight - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "fortnight"?
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Using “fortnight”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-T-N-I-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɔːt.naɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fortnightly” - see the side-by-side comparison. fortnight vs fortnightly
- 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.