frontier
/ˈfɹʌntɪə/
"frontier" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“frontier” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,449 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,449
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The part of a country which borders or faces another country or unsettled region.
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 | frontier |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɹʌntɪə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,449 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “frontier” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for frontier is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɹʌntɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,449 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for frontier, with forms such as "ffrontier", "forntier", and "frnotier". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "fronting", "fronted", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English frounter, from Old French fronter (whence Modern French frontière), from front. The correct English form is frontier, spelled F-R-O-N-T-I-E-R.
Definition
- 1The part of a country which borders or faces another country or unsettled region.
- 2The most advanced or recent version of something; the leading edge.
- 3An outwork of a fortification.
Etymology
From Middle English frounter, from Old French fronter (whence Modern French frontière), from front.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffrontier,forntier,frnotier,froniter,fronntier,fronteir,frontierr,frontire,fronttier,frotnier,frrontier,rfontier
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of frontier - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "frontier"?
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Using “frontier”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-R-O-N-T-I-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɹʌntɪə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fronting” - see the side-by-side comparison. frontier vs fronting
- 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.