goodwill
/ɡʊdˈwɪl/
"goodwill" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goodwill” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,708 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,708
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.
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 | goodwill |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡʊdˈwɪl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,708 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “goodwill” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for goodwill is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡʊdˈwɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,708 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 goodwill, with forms such as "ggoodwill", "godowill", and "godwill". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Goodwin", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English *goodwille, good wille (“goodwill”), perhaps from Old English *gōdwille (“goodwill”); compare Old English gōdwillende (“well-pleased”); also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”), equivalent to good + will. Cognate with Sco… The correct English form is goodwill, spelled G-O-O-D-W-I-L-L.
Definition
- 1A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.
- 2The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.
- 3The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.
- 4The willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just work to rule.
- 5A thrift shop.
Etymology
From Middle English *goodwille, good wille (“goodwill”), perhaps from Old English *gōdwille (“goodwill”); compare Old English gōdwillende (“well-pleased”); also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”), equivalent to good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”). The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of a US chain of such shops.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggoodwill,godowill,godwill,gooddwill,goodiwll,goodwil,goodwlil,goodwwill,goowdill,ogodwill
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of goodwill - 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
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Using “goodwill”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-O-D-W-I-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡʊdˈwɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Goodwin” - see the side-by-side comparison. goodwill vs Goodwin
- 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.