laugh
/lɐːf/
"laugh" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“laugh” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,214 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,214
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.
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) |
Where “laugh” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for laugh is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /lɐːf/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,214 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 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 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.
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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Using “laugh”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-U-G-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /lɐːf/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lug” - see the side-by-side comparison. laugh vs lug
- 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.