index
/ˈɪndɛks/
"index" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“index” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,628 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,628
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An alphabetical listing of items and their location.
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 | index |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪndɛks/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,628 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “index” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for index is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪndɛks/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,628 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 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 index, with forms such as "idnex", "inddex", and "indexx". 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, "Indy", "Indo", "Indi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin index (“a discoverer, informer, spy; of things, an indicator, the forefinger, a title, superscription”), from indicō (“point out, show”); see indicate. The correct English form is index, spelled I-N-D-E-X.
Definition
- 1An alphabetical listing of items and their location.
- 2The index finger; the forefinger.
- 3A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.
- 4A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.
- 5That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.
- 6A sign; an indication; a token.
- 7A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context; e.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.
- 8A single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.
- 9A number representing a property or ratio; a coefficient.
- 10A raised suffix indicating a power.
- 11An integer or other key indicating the location of data, e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.
- 12A data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.
- 13The number of cosets that exist.
- 14A prologue indicating what follows.
Etymology
From Latin index (“a discoverer, informer, spy; of things, an indicator, the forefinger, a title, superscription”), from indicō (“point out, show”); see indicate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: idnex,inddex,indexx,indxe,inedx,inndex,nidex
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of index - 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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Using “index”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-D-E-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪndɛks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Indy” - see the side-by-side comparison. index vs Indy
- 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.