laugh
/lɐːf/
"laugh" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“laugh” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,214. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #2,214
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
Corpus desk
Index EN-laugh · laugh · English
laugh · rank #2,214 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,214
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH jersey
Nearest frequency peer: jersey (-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 “laugh”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Italian
Italian
97,790 corpus weight
- Italy
Italy
97,789 corpus weight
- jersey
jersey
97,788 corpus weight
- laugh
laugh
97,787 corpus weight
- leg
leg
97,786 corpus weight
- letters
letters
97,785 corpus weight
What this shows “laugh” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | laugh |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /lɐːf/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,214 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “laugh”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around laugh (IPA /lɐːf/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,214 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for laugh, with forms such as "alugh", "laguh", and "lauggh". 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, "lug", "lush", "luge", 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 laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną. Cognates Germanic: Scots lauch (“to laugh”), Yola leeigh, leigh (“to laugh”), North F… The correct English form is laugh, spelled L-A-U-G-H.
Definition
- 1An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
- 2Something that provokes mirth or scorn.
- 3A fun person.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how laugh appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.
Etymology
From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną. Cognates Germanic: Scots lauch (“to laugh”), Yola leeigh, leigh (“to laugh”), North Frisian laache, lachi, laake, loache, lååke (“to laugh”), Saterland Frisian laachje (“to laugh”), West Frisian laitsje (“to laugh”), Alemannic German lache (“to laugh”), Cimbrian lachan (“to laugh”), Dutch, German, and Low German lachen (“to laugh”), Luxembourgish laachen (“to laugh”), Yiddish לאַכן (lakhn, “to laugh”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish le (“to laugh”), Elfdalian läa (“to laugh”), Faroese læa (“to laugh”), Icelandic hlæja (“to laugh”), Norwegian Nynorsk le, læ, læja (“to laugh”), Crimean Gothic lachen (“to laugh”), Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hlahjan, “to laugh”). Indo-European: Breton kloc'h (“bell”), Irish clog (“bell; clock”), Manx and Scottish Gaelic clag (“bell”), Welsh cloch (“bell”), Russian клекота́ть (klekotátʹ), клокота́ть (klokotátʹ), клохта́ть (kloxtátʹ, “to cluck, cackle”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- alugh
- laguh
- lauggh
- laughh
- lauhg
- llaugh
- luagh
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of laugh - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "laugh", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).