hazel
/ˈheɪzəl/
"hazel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hazel” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,133. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #14,133
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tree or shrub of the genus Corylus, bearing edible nuts called hazelnuts or filberts.
Corpus desk
Index EN-hazel · hazel · English
hazel · rank #14,133 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #14,133
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH Hayden
Nearest frequency peer: Hayden (-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 “hazel”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Hanson
Hanson
85,871 corpus weight
- haunt
haunt
85,870 corpus weight
- Hayden
Hayden
85,869 corpus weight
- hazel
hazel
85,868 corpus weight
- headset
headset
85,867 corpus weight
- Hernandez
Hernandez
85,866 corpus weight
What this shows “hazel” 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 | hazel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈheɪzəl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #14,133 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “hazel”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around hazel (IPA /ˈheɪzəl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,133 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hazel, with forms such as "ahzel", "haezl", and "hazell". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Hel", "heel", "hazy", 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 Middle English hasel, from Old English hæsl (“hazel, shrub”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasl, from Proto-Germanic *haslaz (“hazel”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóslos (“hazel”). Cognates Cognate with Yola hawlse (“hazel”), Dutch hazel, hazelaar (“hazel”… The correct English form is hazel, spelled H-A-Z-E-L.
Definition
- 1A tree or shrub of the genus Corylus, bearing edible nuts called hazelnuts or filberts.
- 2The nut of the hazel tree.
- 3The wood of a hazelnut tree.
- 4A greenish-brown colour, the colour of a ripe hazelnut.
- 5Freestone.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hazel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The green turf was velvet underfoot. The blackbirds fluted in the hazels there.
Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.
Etymology
From Middle English hasel, from Old English hæsl (“hazel, shrub”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasl, from Proto-Germanic *haslaz (“hazel”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóslos (“hazel”). Cognates Cognate with Yola hawlse (“hazel”), Dutch hazel, hazelaar (“hazel”), German Hasel (“hazel”), Vilamovian hozuł (“hazel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish hassel (“hazel”), Icelandic hesli (“hazel”), Norwegian Nynorsk hasl, hassel (“hazel”); also Latin corulus, corylus (“hazel”), Irish call, coll (“hazel”), Manx coull (“hazel”), Scottish Gaelic coll (“hazel”), Welsh cyll (“hazel trees”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ahzel
- haezl
- hazell
- hazle
- hazzel
- hhazel
- hzael
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hazel - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hazel", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).