lavender
/ˈlæv.ən.də/
"lavender" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lavender” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,270 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,270
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.
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 | lavender |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlæv.ən.də/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #16,270 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lavender” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lavender is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlæv.ən.də/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,270 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. 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 lavender, with forms such as "alvender", "laevnder", and "lavedner". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "lender", "lander", "launder", 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 lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes. The correct English form is lavender, spelled L-A-V-E-N-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1Any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.
- 2A pale bluish purple colour, like that of the lavender flower.
- 3A kind of film stock used for creating positive prints from negatives as part of the process of duplicating the negatives.
Etymology
From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alvender,laevnder,lavedner,lavendder,lavenderr,lavendre,lavenedr,lavennder,lavneder,lavvender,llavender,lvaender
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lavender - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "lavender"?
What does "lavender" mean?
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Using “lavender”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-V-E-N-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlæv.ən.də/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lender” - see the side-by-side comparison. lavender vs lender
- 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.