joke

/d͡ʒəʊk/

//d͡ʒəʊk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"joke" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“joke” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,117. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,117
frequency rank, English
796
“J” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An amusing story.

Corpus desk

Index EN-joke · joke · English

joke · rank #2,117 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,117
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 796
  • PHOTO-FINISH increasing

Nearest frequency peer: increasing (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “joke”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “joke” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

joke vs joy
50% similar
joke vs Jon
25% similar
joke vs Joo
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for joke
PropertyValue
Headwordjoke
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/d͡ʒəʊk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#2,117
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “joke”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).jokelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “increasing” (#2,116), “loan” (#2,118), “illegal” (#2,115). Among 796 “J” headwords, “joke” is #2,117. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around joke (IPA /d͡ʒəʊk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,117 among 796 “J” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for joke, with forms such as "jjoke", "jkoe", and "joek". 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, "joy", "Jon", "Joo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Ce… The correct English form is joke, spelled J-O-K-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An amusing story.
  2. 2
    Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness.
  3. 3
    The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one
  4. 4
    A laughably worthless thing or person; a sham.
  5. 5
    Something that is far easier or far less challenging than expected.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how joke appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Or witty joke our airy senses moves / To pleasant laughter.
  2. It was a joke!

Etymology

From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic *yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.

Synonyms

joke

This word in other languages

broma(Español)plaisanterie(Français)Witz(Deutsch)brincadeira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • jjoke
  • jkoe
  • joek
  • jokke
  • ojke

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of joke - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

jjoke1jkoe2joek2jokke1ojke2
Edit distance from "joke"

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 "joke"?
"joke" is spelled J-O-K-E. The IPA pronunciation is /d͡ʒəʊk/.
What does "joke" mean?
As a noun, "joke" means: An amusing story.
What words are commonly confused with "joke"?
"joke" is commonly confused with "joy", "Jon", "Joo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "joke"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "joke" is /d͡ʒəʊk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "joke"?
From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates includ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "joke", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

loan#2,118hero#2,114flow#2,111soft#2,130

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

tech5 variantssuit5 variantshole5 variantsarts5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list