# fraud

> English word · Noun · IPA /fɹɔːd/ · frequency rank #3,809

## Definitions
1. The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.
2. Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved or unlawful gain.
3. The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
4. A person who performs any such trick.
5. A trap or snare.

## Etymology
From Middle English fraude (recorded since 1345), from Old French fraude, a borrowing from Latin fraus (“deceit, injury, offence”).

## Easily confused with
- **Fred** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-fred)
- **fray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-fray)
- **fried** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-fried)
- **freed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-freed)
- **Freud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-freud)
- **frayed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fraud-vs-frayed)
- **fad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fad-vs-fraud)
- **fra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fra-vs-fraud)
- **feud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/feud-vs-fraud)
- **faux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faux-vs-fraud)
- **Fran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fran-vs-fraud)
- **frat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frat-vs-fraud)
- **Frau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frau-vs-fraud)
- **frank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frank-vs-fraud)
- **frame** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frame-vs-fraud)
- **Franz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/franz-vs-fraud)
- **frail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frail-vs-fraud)
- **franc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/franc-vs-fraud)
- **Frans** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/frans-vs-fraud)
- **framed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/framed-vs-fraud)

## Common misspellings (7)
`farud`, `ffraud`, `fradu`, `fraudd`, `frraud`, `fruad`, `rfaud`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fraud