guitar

/ɡɪˈtɑː/

//ɡɪˈtɑː// noun

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

"guitar" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“guitar” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,106. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,106
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).

Corpus desk

Index EN-guitar · guitar · English

guitar · rank #3,106 · 8 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,106
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH grey

Nearest frequency peer: grey (-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 “guitar”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “guitar” 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).

guitar vs Gupta
50% similar
guitar vs gutter
67% similar
guitar vs Gustav
50% similar

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

Key facts for guitar
PropertyValue
Headwordguitar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡɪˈtɑː/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,106
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “guitar”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).guitarlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “grey” (#3,105), “heading” (#3,107), “finger” (#3,104). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “guitar” is #3,106. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around guitar (IPA /ɡɪˈtɑː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,106 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for guitar, with forms such as "gguitar", "giutar", and "guiatr". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Gupta", "gutter", "Gustav", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā)bor. Aramaic קיתראbor. Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra)bor. Old Spanish guitarra Spanish guitarrabor. English guitar From Spanish guitarra, from Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra), from Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā). Doublet … The correct English form is guitar, spelled G-U-I-T-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
  2. 2
    Any type of musical instrument of the lute family, characterized by a flat back, along with a neck whose upper surface is in the same plane as the soundboard, with strings along the neck and parallel to the soundboard.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Learning to strum the guitar rhythmically is essential.
  2. She was carrying her guitar in a fancily-decorated case.

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā)bor. Aramaic קיתראbor. Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra)bor. Old Spanish guitarra Spanish guitarrabor. English guitar From Spanish guitarra, from Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra), from Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā). Doublet of cithara, cither, and zither.

Synonyms

axegatguitar

This word in other languages

guitarra(Español)guitare(Français)Gitarre(Deutsch)guitarra(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • gguitar
  • giutar
  • guiatr
  • guitarr
  • guitra
  • guittar
  • gutiar
  • ugitar

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of guitar - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

gguitar1giutar2guiatr2guitarr1guitra2guittar1gutiar2ugitar2
Edit distance from "guitar"

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 "guitar"?
"guitar" is spelled G-U-I-T-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡɪˈtɑː/.
What does "guitar" mean?
As a noun, "guitar" means: A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
What words are commonly confused with "guitar"?
"guitar" is commonly confused with "Gupta", "gutter", "Gustav". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "guitar"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "guitar" is /ɡɪˈtɑː/. 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 "guitar"?
Etymology tree Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā)bor. Aramaic קיתראbor. Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra)bor. Old Spanish guitarra Spanish guitarrabor. English guitar From Spanish guitarra, from Arabic قِيثَارَة (qīṯāra), from Ancient Greek κῐθᾰ́ρᾱ (kĭthắrā)... 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 "guitar", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

finger#3,104Howard#3,108exists#3,103ignore#3,109

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

offices8 variantspants8 variantsrescue8 variantsrepeat8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list