laughter
/ˈlɑːftə/
"laughter" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“laughter” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,065 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,065
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
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 | laughter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɑːftə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,065 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “laughter” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for laughter is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɑːftə/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,065 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 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for laughter, with forms such as "alughter", "laguhter", and "laugghter". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "lighter", "laughed", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity… The correct English form is laughter, spelled L-A-U-G-H-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.
- 2A movement (usually involuntary) of the muscles of the laughing face, particularly of the lips, and of the whole body, with a peculiar expression of the eyes, indicating merriment, satisfaction or derision, and usually attended by a sonorous and interrupted expulsion of air from the lungs.
- 3A reason for merriment.
Etymology
From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity, merriment”), Danish and Norwegian latter (“laughter”), Icelandic hlátur (“laughter”). More at laugh.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alughter,laguhter,laugghter,laughetr,laughhter,laughterr,laughtre,laughtter,laugther,lauhgter,llaughter,luaghter
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of laughter - 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 “laughter”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-U-G-H-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɑːftə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lighter” - see the side-by-side comparison. laughter vs lighter
- 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.