Iago
/iˈɑːɡəʊ/
"iago" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Iago” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #43,699 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #43,699
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A male given name.
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 | Iago |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /iˈɑːɡəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #43,699 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Iago” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Iago is 4 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /iˈɑːɡəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #43,699 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 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for Iago, with forms such as "aigo", "iaggo", and "iaog". 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, "IG", "io", "iso", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician Iago, from Latin Iācōbus (“James”), from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (ya‘ăqṓḇ, “Jacob”, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עָקֵב (‘āqḗḇ, “heel”) and the Biblical account of the patria… The correct English form is Iago, spelled I-A-G-O.
Definition
- 1A male given name.
- 2The villain of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello; any similar villain or deceitful underling.
Etymology
From Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician Iago, from Latin Iācōbus (“James”), from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (ya‘ăqṓḇ, “Jacob”, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עָקֵב (‘āqḗḇ, “heel”) and the Biblical account of the patriarch Jacob's birth in Genesis 25:26. Doublet of Yago, Jago, James, Jacob, Jacques, and Santiago.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aigo,iaggo,iaog,igao
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Iago - 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
How do you spell "Iago"?
What does "Iago" mean?
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Using “Iago”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-A-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /iˈɑːɡəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “IG” - see the side-by-side comparison. Iago vs IG
- 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.