hornet
/ˈhɔː.nɪt/
"hornet" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hornet” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,863 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #23,863
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any large wasp of the genus Vespa, having a brown-and-yellow-striped body and the ability to inflict a serious sting.
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 | hornet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɔː.nɪt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #23,863 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hornet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hornet is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɔː.nɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,863 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for hornet, with forms such as "hhornet", "honret", and "horent". 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 14 confusable-pair relationships, "horse", "horns", "horny", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hernet, from Old English hyrnetu, hyrnete, from Proto-West Germanic *hurnutu, from Proto-Germanic *hurznutō (compare German Hornisse), alteration of Proto-Germanic *hursulǭ (compare Dutch horzel), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂sro- (“ho… The correct English form is hornet, spelled H-O-R-N-E-T.
Definition
- 1Any large wasp of the genus Vespa, having a brown-and-yellow-striped body and the ability to inflict a serious sting.
- 2A person who pesters with petty but ceaseless attacks.
Etymology
From Middle English hernet, from Old English hyrnetu, hyrnete, from Proto-West Germanic *hurnutu, from Proto-Germanic *hurznutō (compare German Hornisse), alteration of Proto-Germanic *hursulǭ (compare Dutch horzel), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂sro- (“hornet”, literally “the one with horns (antennae)”), from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”) (compare Welsh creyryn (“gadfly”), Latin crābrō (“hornet”), Lithuanian širšė (“wasp”), Proto-Slavic *sьrxy (whence Old Church Slavonic сръшень (srŭšenĭ, “hornet”) and many others), Albanian grerë, grenzë (“wasp, hornet”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhornet,honret,horent,hornett,hornnet,hornte,horrnet,hronet,ohrnet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hornet - 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
How do you spell "hornet"?
What does "hornet" mean?
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Using “hornet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-R-N-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɔː.nɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “horse” - see the side-by-side comparison. hornet vs horse
- 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.