hawthorn
/ˈhɔː.θɔːn/
"hawthorn" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hawthorn” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,534. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #21,534
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Crataegus having small, apple-like fruits and thorny branches
Corpus desk
Index EN-hawthorn · hawthorn · English
hawthorn · rank #21,534 · 13 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-MID #21,534
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH Healy
Nearest frequency peer: Healy (+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 “hawthorn”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- gracefully
gracefully
78,471 corpus weight
- gubernatori…
gubernatorial
78,470 corpus weight
- hawthorn
hawthorn
78,467 corpus weight
- Healy
Healy
78,466 corpus weight
- Hermann
Hermann
78,465 corpus weight
- Herr
Herr
78,464 corpus weight
What this shows “hawthorn” 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 | hawthorn |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɔː.θɔːn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #21,534 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “hawthorn”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around hawthorn (IPA /ˈhɔː.θɔːn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #21,534 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Crataegus having small, apple-like fruits and thorny branches".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for hawthorn, with forms such as "ahwthorn", "hatwhorn", and "hawhtorn". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Hawthorne", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hawthorn, from Old English hagaþorn, hæguþorn, from Proto-West Germanic *haguþorn; equivalent to haw (“hedge, enclosure”) + thorn. The correct English form is hawthorn, spelled H-A-W-T-H-O-R-N.
Definition
- 1Any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Crataegus having small, apple-like fruits and thorny branches
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hawthorn appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Proust, an author to whom Humboldt had introduced me and in whose work he gave me heavy instruction, said he was often attracted to people whose faces had something in them of a hawthorn hedge in bloom.
In fact, a railway lined with hedgerows and shrubs would be perfect for reliability and biodiversity. Hawthorn, for example, can take a good cut and grow back strongly, while still providing shelter for creatures and acting as a natural fence line. Even palisade fencing can be climbed by a determined trespasser, but a good-size hawthorn hedge, lined with…
Etymology
From Middle English hawthorn, from Old English hagaþorn, hæguþorn, from Proto-West Germanic *haguþorn; equivalent to haw (“hedge, enclosure”) + thorn.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ahwthorn
- hatwhorn
- hawhtorn
- hawthhorn
- hawthonr
- hawthornn
- hawthorrn
- hawthron
- hawtohrn
- hawtthorn
- hawwthorn
- hhawthorn
- hwathorn
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hawthorn - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hawthorn", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).