minnow
/ˈmɪnəʊ/
"minnow" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“minnow” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #46,069 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #46,069
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any small fish.
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 | minnow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɪnəʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #46,069 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “minnow” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for minnow is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɪnəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #46,069 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for minnow, with forms such as "imnnow", "minnoww", and "minnwo". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "mino", "minor", "Minot", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English menew, menowe (“small fish; (specifically) common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus); or stickleback (possibly the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus)”), from Old English *mynwe, an oblique form of *mynu, a… The correct English form is minnow, spelled M-I-N-N-O-W.
Definition
- 1Any small fish.
- 2Any small fish.
- 3Any small fish.
- 4Any small fish.
- 5Any small fish.
- 6A person or thing of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
- 7A person or thing of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
- 8An artificial bait in the form of a small fish.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English menew, menowe (“small fish; (specifically) common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus); or stickleback (possibly the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus)”), from Old English *mynwe, an oblique form of *mynu, a variant of myne (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *muniwu (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”). Possibly influenced by Anglo-Norman menu (“small”) and Old French menu (“small”), and English minim (“anything very minute; applied to animalcula and the like”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. Cognates * Middle Low German mone, möne (Dutch meun, West Frisian meun) * Old High German muniwa, munuwa, munewa (modern German Münne (“minnow”)) * Latin mēna (“small sea-fish”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imnnow,minnoww,minnwo,minonw,minow,mminnow,mninow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of minnow - 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
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Using “minnow”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-N-N-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɪnəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mino” - see the side-by-side comparison. minnow vs mino
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.