midst
/mɪdst/
"midst" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“midst” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,453. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,453
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
Corpus desk
Index EN-midst · midst · English
midst · rank #8,453 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,453
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Memphis
Nearest frequency peer: Memphis (-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 “midst”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- liable
liable
91,551 corpus weight
- Memphis
Memphis
91,549 corpus weight
- midst
midst
91,548 corpus weight
- misery
misery
91,547 corpus weight
- module
module
91,546 corpus weight
- mommy
mommy
91,545 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “midst” 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 | midst |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɪdst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,453 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “midst” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around midst (IPA /mɪdst/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,453 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for midst, with forms such as "imdst", "mdist", and "middst". 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, "mit", "MST", "most", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English middes, midst, myddest (“middle”), from Old English midde, reshaped in Middle English phrases like in middes (“in the middle”) by analogy with adverbs in -(e)s; also compare Old English on middan, tōmiddes. Forms in -(e)st are probably d… The correct English form is midst, spelled M-I-D-S-T.
Definition
- 1A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how midst appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
At dawn, in the midst of a mist that is both literal and the unformed shifting of thought, he encounters a young fox pup playfully shaking a bone.
Etymology
From Middle English middes, midst, myddest (“middle”), from Old English midde, reshaped in Middle English phrases like in middes (“in the middle”) by analogy with adverbs in -(e)s; also compare Old English on middan, tōmiddes. Forms in -(e)st are probably due to influence of superlatives.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- imdst
- mdist
- middst
- midsst
- midstt
- midts
- misdt
- mmidst
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of midst - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "midst"?
What does "midst" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "midst", 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 (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "midst". Here's where to go from here.
- "midst" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "mit". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #8,453 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "M" letter cohort. M–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.