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mark

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "mark", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "mark" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "mark" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

mark is aEnglishnoun. It means: Boundary, land within a boundary. Pronounced /mɑːk/. It ranks #949 in English word frequency. Often confused with Mr and MK.

Key facts for mark
PropertyValue
Headwordmark
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/mɑːk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#949
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of mark in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for mark is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mɑːk/. Corpus data places it at rank #949 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 33 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for mark, with forms such as "amrk", "makr", and "markk". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Mr", "MK", "may", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marke… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is mark, spelled M-A-R-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Boundary, land within a boundary.
  2. 2
    Boundary, land within a boundary.
  3. 3
    Boundary, land within a boundary.
  4. 4
    Boundary, land within a boundary.
  5. 5
    Boundary, land within a boundary.
  6. 6
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  7. 7
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  8. 8
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  9. 9
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  10. 10
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  11. 11
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  12. 12
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  13. 13
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  14. 14
    Characteristic, sign, visible impression.
  15. 15
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  16. 16
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  17. 17
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  18. 18
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  19. 19
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  20. 20
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  21. 21
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  22. 22
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  23. 23
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  24. 24
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  25. 25
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  26. 26
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  27. 27
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  28. 28
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  29. 29
    Indicator of position, objective etc.
  30. 30
    Attention.
  31. 31
    Attention.
  32. 32
    Attention.
  33. 33
    Attention.

Etymology

From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”), from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs (“edge, boundary, border”). Compare march. Cognates * Dutch mark, merk (“mark, brand”) * German Mark (“mark; borderland”), Marke (“mark, brand”) * Swedish mark (“mark, land, territory”) * Icelandic mark (“mark, sign”) * Latin margō (“edge, margin”) * Persian مرز (marz, “limit, boundary”) * Sanskrit मर्या (maryā, “limit, mark, boundary”), मार्ग (mārga, “mark, section”).

Synonyms

MkMk.heedobservanceattention

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: amrk,makr,markk,marrk,mmark,mrak

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for mark

Misspelling Variants of "mark"

amrk4makr4markk5marrk5mmark5mrak4
Misspelling Variants of "mark"

Frequency rank: #949 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mark"?
"mark" is spelled M-A-R-K. The IPA pronunciation is /mɑːk/.
What does "mark" mean?
As a noun, "mark" means: Boundary, land within a boundary.
What words are commonly confused with "mark"?
"mark" is commonly confused with "Mr", "MK", "may". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mark"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mark" is /mɑːk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "mark"?
From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boun... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index:

All "M" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.