haiku
/ˈhaɪkuː/
"haiku" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“haiku” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,105 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,105
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Japanese poem in three lines, the first and last consisting of five morae, and the second consisting of seven morae, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme.
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 | haiku |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhaɪkuː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #26,105 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “haiku” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for haiku is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhaɪkuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,105 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 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for haiku, with forms such as "ahiku", "haikku", and "haiuk". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "Hak", "hair", "hike", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku), from Middle Chinese 俳 (beaj, “paralleled [writing]”) + 句 (kɨoᴴ, “line”). The correct English form is haiku, spelled H-A-I-K-U.
Definition
- 1A Japanese poem in three lines, the first and last consisting of five morae, and the second consisting of seven morae, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme.
- 2A three-line poem in any language, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven syllables in the second, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku), from Middle Chinese 俳 (beaj, “paralleled [writing]”) + 句 (kɨoᴴ, “line”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahiku,haikku,haiuk,hakiu,hhaiku,hiaku
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of haiku - 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 “haiku”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-I-K-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhaɪkuː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Hak” - see the side-by-side comparison. haiku vs Hak
- 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.