lodestar
/ˈləʊd.stɑː(ɹ)/
"lodestar" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lodestar” is uncommon English (frequency #95,085 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #95,085
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A star used as a navigation reference, particularly a pole star such as Polaris.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lodestar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈləʊd.stɑː(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #95,085 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lodestar” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
lodestar is uncommon English at frequency #95,085 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈləʊd.stɑː(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for lodestar in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lode (“journey, course”) + star, where lode is an archaic noun from the verb lithe (“to go, journey”), related to lead. Other Middle English spellings include: 14th century loode sterre, lood-sterre, lade-sterne; and 15th century lode st… The correct English form is lodestar, spelled L-O-D-E-S-T-A-R.
Definition
- 1A star used as a navigation reference, particularly a pole star such as Polaris.
- 2A guiding tenet or principle.
- 3A calculated amount to award as attorney's fees derived by multiplying the reasonable number of hours spent working on a case by the reasonable hourly billing rate.
Etymology
From Middle English lode (“journey, course”) + star, where lode is an archaic noun from the verb lithe (“to go, journey”), related to lead. Other Middle English spellings include: 14th century loode sterre, lood-sterre, lade-sterne; and 15th century lode sterre. Cognate with Old Norse leiðarstjarna, Dutch leidster, German Leitstern, Danish ledestjerne, Swedish ledstjärna.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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 “lodestar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-D-E-S-T-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈləʊd.stɑː(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.