# halt

> English word · Verb · IPA /hɒlt/ · frequency rank #7,924

## Definitions
1. To limp; move with a limping gait.
2. To stand in doubt whether to proceed, or what to do; hesitate; be uncertain; linger; delay; mammer.
3. To be lame, faulty, or defective, as in connection with ideas, or in measure, or in versification.
4. To waver.
5. To falter.

## Etymology
From Middle English halten, from Old English healtian (“to be lame, walk with a limp”), from Proto-West Germanic *haltōn, related to *halt. English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian halte, Swedish halta.

## Easily confused with
- **has** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-has)
- **hit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hit)
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hot)
- **hat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hat)
- **ham** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-ham)
- **han** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-han)
- **hay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hay)
- **hut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hut)
- **har** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-har)
- **het** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-het)
- **haw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-haw)
- **hap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hap)
- **Hel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hel)
- **hao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hao)
- **Haq** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-haq)
- **hav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hav)
- **HRT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hrt)
- **have** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-have)
- **help** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-help)
- **hard** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/halt-vs-hard)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ahlt`, `hallt`, `haltt`, `hatl`, `hhalt`, `hlat`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/halt