lack
/læk/
"lack" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lack” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,274. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,274
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lack · lack · English
lack · rank #1,274 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,274
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 16,425
- PHOTO-FINISH impact
Nearest frequency peer: impact (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lack”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- fighting
fighting
98,730 corpus weight
- imagine
imagine
98,729 corpus weight
- impact
impact
98,728 corpus weight
- lack
lack
98,727 corpus weight
- latest
latest
98,726 corpus weight
- learning
learning
98,725 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lack” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | lack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /læk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,274 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lack” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around lack (IPA /læk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,274 among 16,425 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for lack, with forms such as "alck", "lacck", and "lackk". 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, "LC", "law", "lay", 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 lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame,… The correct English form is lack, spelled L-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
- 2A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lack appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;
I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.
Etymology
From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- alck
- lacck
- lackk
- lakc
- lcak
- llack
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lack - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lack", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.