Harold
/ˈhæɹ.əld/
"harold" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Harold” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,791. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,791
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A male given name from Old English or Old Norse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-harold · Harold · English
Harold · rank #6,791 · 9 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #6,791
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH GPS
Nearest frequency peer: GPS (-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 “Harold”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- fork
fork
93,213 corpus weight
- fur
fur
93,212 corpus weight
- GPS
GPS
93,211 corpus weight
- Harold
Harold
93,210 corpus weight
- harvest
harvest
93,209 corpus weight
- headline
headline
93,208 corpus weight
What this shows “Harold” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | Harold |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈhæɹ.əld/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,791 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Harold”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around Harold (IPA /ˈhæɹ.əld/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #6,791 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A male given name from Old English or Old Norse.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Harold, with forms such as "ahrold", "haorld", and "harlod". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "hold", "Herod", "herald", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a merger of Old English Hereweald and Old English Harold (itself from Old Norse Haraldr), both from Proto-Germanic *Harjawaldaz, from *harjaz (“army”) + *waldaz (“ruler, authority”). Related to Walter, which has the elements reversed. Cognate with Dani… The correct English form is Harold, spelled H-A-R-O-L-D.
Definition
- 1A male given name from Old English or Old Norse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Harold appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
For I have heard the Steers / Had land in Saxon times; and your own name / Of Harold sounds so English and so old / I am sure you must be proud of it.
She called her husband Hal because no one else had ever done so and it had a dashing ring, rather out of keeping with Harold's appearance.
Etymology
From a merger of Old English Hereweald and Old English Harold (itself from Old Norse Haraldr), both from Proto-Germanic *Harjawaldaz, from *harjaz (“army”) + *waldaz (“ruler, authority”). Related to Walter, which has the elements reversed. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish Harald, Faroese and Icelandic Haraldur.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ahrold
- haorld
- harlod
- harodl
- haroldd
- harolld
- harrold
- hharold
- hraold
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Harold - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Harold"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Harold", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).