jest
/d͡ʒɛst/
"jest" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jest” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,849 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,849
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An act performed for amusement; a joke.
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 | jest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /d͡ʒɛst/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #26,849 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “jest” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for jest is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /d͡ʒɛst/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,849 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for jest, with forms such as "ejst", "jesst", and "jestt". 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, "jet", "Jew", "jus", 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 geste (“idle tale”), from Old French geste (“acts, exploits”), from Latin gesta (“acts, deeds”). Doublet of gest. The correct English form is jest, spelled J-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1An act performed for amusement; a joke.
- 2Someone or something that is ridiculed; the target of a joke.
- 3A deed; an action; a gest.
- 4A mask; a pageant; an interlude.
Etymology
From Middle English geste (“idle tale”), from Old French geste (“acts, exploits”), from Latin gesta (“acts, deeds”). Doublet of gest.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ejst,jesst,jestt,jjest,jset
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of jest - 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 “jest”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is J-E-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /d͡ʒɛst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “jet” - see the side-by-side comparison. jest vs jet
- 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.