fretted
/ˈfɹɛtɪd/
"fretted" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fretted” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #47,633 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #47,633
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of fret
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 | fretted |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈfɹɛtɪd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #47,633 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fretted” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fretted is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɹɛtɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #47,633 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of fret".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for fretted, with forms such as "fertted", "ffretted", and "freted". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "fronted", "frosted", "freed", 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 fret. The correct English form is fretted, spelled F-R-E-T-T-E-D.
Definition
- 1simple past and past participle of fret
Etymology
From fret.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fertted,ffretted,freted,fretetd,frettde,frettedd,frretted,frteted,rfetted
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fretted - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “fretted”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-E-T-T-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɹɛtɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fronted” - see the side-by-side comparison. fretted vs fronted
- 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.