honor
/ˈɒn.ə/
"honor" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“honor” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,076 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,076
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Recognition of importance or value; respect; veneration (of someone, usually for being morally upright or successful).
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 | honor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɒn.ə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,076 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “honor” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for honor is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒn.ə/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,076 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for honor, with forms such as "hhonor", "hnoor", and "honnor". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hoo", "hor", "hour", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor. Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”). The verb is from Middle English honouren, honu… The correct English form is honor, spelled H-O-N-O-R.
Definition
- 1Recognition of importance or value; respect; veneration (of someone, usually for being morally upright or successful).
- 2The state of being morally upright, honest, noble, virtuous, and magnanimous; excellence of character; the perception of such a state; favourable reputation; dignity.
- 3A token of praise or respect; something that represents praiseworthiness or respect, such as a prize or award given by the state to a citizen.
- 4A privilege (which honors the person experiencing it).
- 5The privilege of going first.
- 6The privilege of going first.
- 7A cause of respect and fame; a glory; an excellency; an ornament.
- 8A seigniory or lordship held of the king, on which other lordships and manors depended.
- 9The center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon (compare honour point).
- 10In bridge, an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten especially of the trump suit; in some other games, an ace, king, queen or jack.
- 11In bridge, an ace, king, queen, jack, or ten especially of the trump suit; in some other games, an ace, king, queen or jack.
- 12(Courses for) an honours degree: a university qualification of the highest rank.
Etymology
From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor. Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”). The verb is from Middle English honouren, honuren (“to honor”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhonor,hnoor,honnor,honorr,honro,hoonr,ohnor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of honor - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “honor”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-N-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɒn.ə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hoo” - see the side-by-side comparison. honor vs hoo
- 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.