moonlight
/ˈmuːnlaɪt/
"moonlight" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“moonlight” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,808 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,808
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The light reflected from the Moon, which seems to emanate from it.
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 | moonlight |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmuːnlaɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #12,808 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “moonlight” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for moonlight is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmuːnlaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,808 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for moonlight, with forms such as "mmoonlight", "monlight", and "monolight". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "moonlit", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Germanic *mēnô Proto-West Germanic *mānō Old English mōna Middle English mone Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der. Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz Proto-West Germanic *leuht Old English lēoht M… The correct English form is moonlight, spelled M-O-O-N-L-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1The light reflected from the Moon, which seems to emanate from it.
- 2The silvery colour of the light reflected by the Moon.
- 3Synonym of moonshine (“illegally produced or smuggled spirits”).
- 4Chiefly in to do a moonlight: short for moonlight flit (“an act of secretly leaving premises without paying the rent, supposedly at night by the light of the Moon; hence, any act of escaping at night”).
- 5A picture of a scene illuminated by light reflected by the Moon.
- 6A journey made at night when the Moon is shining.
- 7An oratorical competition; also, a participant in such a competition.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Germanic *mēnô Proto-West Germanic *mānō Old English mōna Middle English mone Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der. Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz Proto-West Germanic *leuht Old English lēoht Middle English light Middle English moonelight English moonlight The noun is derived from Middle English moonelight, monelight, mone lyght (“light of the moon; (heraldry) pattern of moons on the field of a heraldic banner”), from mon, mone (“moon”) (from Old English mōna (“moon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon; month”)) + light (“light”) (from Old English lēoht (“light”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”)). By surface analysis, moon + light. The verb is derived from the noun. Verb sense 1.1 (“to secretly leave premises without paying the rent”) is a back-formation from moonlight flit, while verb sense 1.2 (“to make a night-time attack on a tenant farmer”) is probably a back-formation from moonlighter. cognates * Dutch maanlicht * German Mondlicht * Scots muinlicht, munelicht * West Frisian moanneljocht
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmoonlight,monlight,monolight,moolnight,moonilght,moonlgiht,moonligght,moonlighht,moonlightt,moonligth,moonlihgt,moonllight,moonnlight,omonlight
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of moonlight - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "moonlight"?
What does "moonlight" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "moonlight"?
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Using “moonlight”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-O-N-L-I-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmuːnlaɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “moonlit” - see the side-by-side comparison. moonlight vs moonlit
- 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.