fortune
/ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/
"fortune" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fortune” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,303 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,303
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Destiny, especially favorable.
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 | fortune |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,303 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fortune” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fortune is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,303 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for fortune, with forms such as "ffortune", "forrtune", and "fortnue". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "fortunes", "forte", "fortunate", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna (“fate, luck”). The plural form fortunae meant “possessions”, which also gave fortune the meaning of “riches”. The correct English form is fortune, spelled F-O-R-T-U-N-E.
Definition
- 1Destiny, especially favorable.
- 2A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
- 3A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
- 4The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.
- 5Good luck.
- 6One's wealth; the amount of money one has, especially if it is vast.
- 7A large amount of money.
Etymology
From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna (“fate, luck”). The plural form fortunae meant “possessions”, which also gave fortune the meaning of “riches”.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffortune,forrtune,fortnue,forttune,fortuen,fortunne,forutne,fotrune,frotune,ofrtune
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fortune - 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
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Using “fortune”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-T-U-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fortunes” - see the side-by-side comparison. fortune vs fortunes
- 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.