moor

/mʊə/

//mʊə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"moor" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“moor” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18,371) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#18,371
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

Corpus desk

Index EN-moor · moor · English

moor · rank #18,371 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,371
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH mina

Nearest frequency peer: mina (-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 neighbours of confusable “moor”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “moor” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

moor vs Mr
25% similar
moor vs MoS
25% similar
moor vs mop
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for moor
PropertyValue
Headwordmoor
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/mʊə/
Letters4
Frequency rank#18,371
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “moor”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).moorlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “mina” (#18,370), “Moreno” (#18,372), “muffin” (#18,373). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “moor” is #18,371. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for moor is neighbouring look-alikes ("Mr", "MoS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /mʊə/. Frequency #18,371 among 4,057 “M” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for moor, with forms such as "mmoor", "moorr", and "omor". 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, "Mr", "MoS", "mop", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon … The correct English form is moor, spelled M-O-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)
  2. 2
    A game preserve consisting of moorland.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how moor appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A cold, biting wind blew across the moor, and the travellers hastened their step.
  2. In her girlish age, she kept sheep on the moor.

Etymology

From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon mūr, German Moor and perhaps also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei). See mere.

This word in other languages

pantano(Español)lande(Français)Hochmoor(Deutsch)charneca(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmoor
  • moorr
  • omor

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of moor - 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.

mmoor1moorr1omor2
Edit distance from "moor"

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 "moor"?
"moor" is spelled M-O-O-R. The IPA pronunciation is /mʊə/.
What does "moor" mean?
As a noun, "moor" means: An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)
What words are commonly confused with "moor"?
"moor" is commonly confused with "Mr", "MoS", "mop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "moor"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "moor" is /mʊə/. 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 "moor"?
From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, ... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "moor", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mina#18,370Maui#18,365oily#18,380Hara#18,330

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list