loath
/ləʊθ/
"loath" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“loath” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #43,241. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #43,241
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.
Corpus desk
Index EN-loath · loath · English
loath · rank #43,241 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #43,241
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH littlest
Nearest frequency peer: littlest (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “loath”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Lichfield
Lichfield
56,763 corpus weight
- littlest
littlest
56,761 corpus weight
- loath
loath
56,760 corpus weight
- longhorn
longhorn
56,759 corpus weight
- loopy
loopy
56,758 corpus weight
- lun
lun
56,757 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “loath” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | loath |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ləʊθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #43,241 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “loath” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around loath (IPA /ləʊθ/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #43,241 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 loath, with forms such as "laoth", "lloath", and "loaht". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lot", "Loh", "lost", 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 lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“… The correct English form is loath, spelled L-O-A-T-H.
Definition
- 1Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.
- 2Angry, hostile.
- 3Loathsome, unpleasant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how loath appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file.
Then ſaid Faint-heart, Deliver thy Purſe; but he making no haſte to do it (for he was loth to loſe his Money,) Miſtrust ran up to him, and thruſting his hand into his Pocket, pull'd out thence a bag of Silver.
Etymology
From Middle English lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“to do something abhorrent or hateful”). The word is cognate with Danish led (“disgusting, loathsome; nasty”), Dutch leed (“sad; (Belgium) angry”), French laid (“ugly; morally corrupt”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Icelandic leiður (“annoyed, vexed; sad; (archaic or poetic) annoying, wearisome”), Italian laido (“filthy, foul; obscene”), Old Frisian leed, Old High German leid (Middle High German leit, modern German leid (“uncomfortable”), Leid (“grief, sorrow, woe; affliction, suffering; harm, injury; wrong”)), Old Saxon lêð, lēth (“evil person or thing”), Swedish led (“bored; tired; (archaic) disgusting, loathsome; evil”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- laoth
- lloath
- loaht
- loathh
- loatth
- lotah
- olath
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of loath - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "loath"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "loath", 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).
What to do next
You've looked up "loath". Here's where to go from here.
- "loath" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "lot". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #43,241 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.