morgue
/mɔːɡ/
"morgue" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“morgue” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,174 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,174
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
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 | morgue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɔːɡ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #26,174 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “morgue” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for morgue is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mɔːɡ/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,174 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for morgue, with forms such as "mmorgue", "mogrue", and "morgeu". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "Morse", "mosque", "more", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers. The correct English form is morgue, spelled M-O-R-G-U-E.
Definition
- 1A supercilious or haughty attitude; arrogance.
- 2A building or room where dead bodies are kept before their proper burial or cremation, (now) particularly in legal and law enforcement contexts.
- 3The archive and background information division of a newspaper.
Etymology
Borrowed from French morgue. The second sense developed from the first, via "a prison examination room", probably with reference to the haughty attitude of the jailers.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmorgue,mogrue,morgeu,morggue,morrgue,moruge,mrogue,omrgue
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of morgue - 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
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Using “morgue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-R-G-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /mɔːɡ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Morse” - see the side-by-side comparison. morgue vs Morse
- 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.