fright
/fɹaɪt/
"fright" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fright” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,603 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,603
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
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 | fright |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fɹaɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #19,603 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fright” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fright is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɹaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,603 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 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 fright, with forms such as "ffright", "firght", and "frgiht". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "frith", "frigid", "frighten", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furhtį̄ (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k- (“to fear”). Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruc… The correct English form is fright, spelled F-R-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
- 2Someone strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.
Etymology
From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furhtį̄ (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k- (“to fear”). Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹 (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffright,firght,frgiht,frigght,frighht,frightt,frigth,frihgt,frright,rfight
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fright - 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 “fright”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-I-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɹaɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “frith” - see the side-by-side comparison. fright vs frith
- 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.