freight

/fɹeɪt/

//fɹeɪt// noun

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

"freight" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“freight” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,230. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,230
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-freight · freight · English

freight · rank #7,230 · 11 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,230
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH founding

Nearest frequency peer: founding (-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 “freight”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “freight” 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).

freight vs fright
86% similar
freight vs freighter
78% similar
freight vs fight
71% similar

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

Key facts for freight
PropertyValue
Headwordfreight
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/fɹeɪt/
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,230
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “freight”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).freightlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “founding” (#7,229), “fossil” (#7,228), “goddamn” (#7,232). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “freight” is #7,230. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around freight (IPA /fɹeɪt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,230 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for freight, with forms such as "feright", "ffreight", and "fregiht". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "fright", "freighter", "fight", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast … The correct English form is freight, spelled F-R-E-I-G-H-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
  2. 2
    Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage.
  3. 3
    Payment for transportation.
  4. 4
    A burden, a load.
  5. 5
    Cultural or emotional associations.
  6. 6
    Ellipsis of freight train.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. [A]fter ſome Conſideration, that the City of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a Market for our Goods as London, we all took Freight with him, and having put my Goods on board, it was moſt natural for me to put my Steward on board to take care of them, […]
  2. The freight shifted and the trailer turned over on the highway.

Etymology

From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast of a ship; goods; a charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, and Middle Low German vrecht (“cargo, freight; transportation fee”), from Old Saxon frāht, frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- (from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’)) + *aihti (from Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possessions, property”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + aught, and is a doublet of fraught. Cognates * French fret (“cargo, freight; transportation fees; rental of a ship”) * Old English ǣht (“livestock; possession, property; power”) * Old High German frēht (“earnings”) * Portuguese frete (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”) * Spanish flete (“cargo, freight; charter (hire of a vehicle for transporting cargo)”) * Swedish frakt c (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)

This word in other languages

flete(Español)fret(Français)Fracht(Deutsch)carga(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • feright
  • ffreight
  • fregiht
  • freigght
  • freighht
  • freightt
  • freigth
  • freihgt
  • frieght
  • frreight
  • rfeight

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

feright2ffreight1fregiht2freigght1freighht1freightt1freigth2freihgt2
Edit distance from "freight"

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 "freight"?
"freight" is spelled F-R-E-I-G-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is /fɹeɪt/.
What does "freight" mean?
As a noun, "freight" means: The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
What words are commonly confused with "freight"?
"freight" is commonly confused with "fright", "freighter", "fight". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "freight"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "freight" is /fɹeɪt/. 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 "freight"?
From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden... 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 "freight", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

goddamn#7,232honesty#7,234extends#7,224evident#7,220

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

failures11 variantscracked11 variantscluster11 variantsoutbreak11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list