lettuce
/ˈlɛt.ɪs/
"lettuce" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lettuce” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,748 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,748
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An edible plant, Lactuca sativa and its close relatives, having a head of green or purple leaves.
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 | lettuce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɛt.ɪs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #13,748 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lettuce” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lettuce is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɛt.ɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,748 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for lettuce, with forms such as "elttuce", "lettcue", and "lettucce". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "lecture", "lattice", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely fr… The correct English form is lettuce, spelled L-E-T-T-U-C-E.
Definition
- 1An edible plant, Lactuca sativa and its close relatives, having a head of green or purple leaves.
- 2The leaves of the lettuce plant, eaten as a vegetable; as a dish often mixed with other ingredients, dressing etc.
- 3United States paper currency; dollars.
- 4A strong yellow-green color, like that of lettuce (also called lettuce green).
- 5Marijuana.
- 6Long, curly hair, as worn by followers of bro culture.
Etymology
From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elttuce,lettcue,lettucce,lettuec,letuce,letutce,llettuce,ltetuce
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lettuce - 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
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Using “lettuce”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-T-T-U-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɛt.ɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lecture” - see the side-by-side comparison. lettuce vs lecture
- 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.