luck
/lʌk/
"luck" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“luck” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,312. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,312
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
Corpus desk
Index EN-luck · luck · English
luck · rank #1,312 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,312
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 16,425
- PHOTO-FINISH literally
Nearest frequency peer: literally (-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 “luck”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Indian
Indian
98,692 corpus weight
- k
k
98,691 corpus weight
- literally
literally
98,690 corpus weight
- luck
luck
98,689 corpus weight
- marriage
marriage
98,688 corpus weight
- names
names
98,687 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “luck” 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 | luck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /lʌk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,312 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “luck” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around luck (IPA /lʌk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,312 among 16,425 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for luck, with forms such as "lcuk", "lluck", and "lucck". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lux", "lug", "luv", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English luk, lukke, related to Old Frisian luk (“luck”), West Frisian gelok (“luck”), Saterland Frisian Gluk (“luck”), Dutch geluk (“luck, happiness”), Low German luk (“luck”), German Glück (“luck, good fortune, happiness”), Danish lykke (“luck”… The correct English form is luck, spelled L-U-C-K.
Definition
- 1Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
- 2Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
- 3A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
- 4Success.
- 5The results of a random number generator.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how luck appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The raffle is just a matter of luck.
Gilbert had some bad luck yesterday — he got pick-pocketed and lost fifty dollars.
Etymology
From Middle English luk, lukke, related to Old Frisian luk (“luck”), West Frisian gelok (“luck”), Saterland Frisian Gluk (“luck”), Dutch geluk (“luck, happiness”), Low German luk (“luck”), German Glück (“luck, good fortune, happiness”), Danish lykke (“luck”), Swedish lycka (“luck”), Icelandic lukka (“luck”). According to the OED, it may be related to lock. A loanword into English in the 15th century (probably as a gambling term) from Middle Dutch luc, a shortened form of gheluc (“good fortune”), whence Modern Dutch geluk. Middle Dutch luc, gheluc has parallels with Middle High German lücke, gelücke (Modern German Glück). The word occurs only from the 12th century, apparently first in Rhine Frankish. Perhaps from a Frankish *galukki. The word enters standard Middle High German during the 13th century, and spreads to English and Scandinavian in the Late Middle Ages. Its origin seems to have been regional or dialectal, and there were competing German words such as gevelle or schick, or the Latinate fortūne from Latin fortūna. Its etymology is unknown, although there are numerous proposals as to its derivations from a number of roots. Use as a verb in American English is late (1940s), but there was a Middle English verb lukken (“to chance, to happen by good fortune”) in the 15th century.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- lcuk
- lluck
- lucck
- luckk
- lukc
- ulck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of luck - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "luck", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.