mortgage

/ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/

//ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ// noun

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

"mortgage" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mortgage” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,705. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,705
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A legal agreement in which a borrower pledges real property as collateral for a loan used to purchase or refinance that property.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mortgage · mortgage · English

mortgage · rank #3,705 · 12 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,705
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH medal

Nearest frequency peer: medal (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “mortgage”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “mortgage” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

mortgage vs montage
75% similar

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

Key facts for mortgage
PropertyValue
Headwordmortgage
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/
Letters8
Frequency rank#3,705
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “mortgage”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).mortgagelands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “medal” (#3,704), “narrative” (#3,706), “makeup” (#3,703). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “mortgage” is #3,705. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around mortgage (IPA /ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,705 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for mortgage, with forms such as "mmortgage", "morgtage", and "morrtgage". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "montage", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English morgage and Middle French mortgage, from Anglo-Norman morgage, from Old French mort gage (“dead pledge”), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum wadium, with wadium from Frankish *wadi (“wager, pledge”). Compare gage and … The correct English form is mortgage, spelled M-O-R-T-G-A-G-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A legal agreement in which a borrower pledges real property as collateral for a loan used to purchase or refinance that property.
  2. 2
    The state of being pledged.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The appriser, therefore, (as the holder of a mortgage was then called,) entered upon possession, and in the language of Hotspur, "came me cranking in," and cut the family out of another monstrous cantle of their remaining property.
  2. lands given in mortgage

Etymology

From Middle English morgage and Middle French mortgage, from Anglo-Norman morgage, from Old French mort gage (“dead pledge”), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum wadium, with wadium from Frankish *wadi (“wager, pledge”). Compare gage and also wage. So called because rents and profits from the land were owed to the lender for as long as the gage existed (comparable to interest on a loan today), as opposed to the living gage, in which rents and profits automatically reduced the debt (paying it off over time).

This word in other languages

hipoteca(Español)hypothèque(Français)Hypothek(Deutsch)hipoteca(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmortgage
  • morgtage
  • morrtgage
  • mortagge
  • mortgaeg
  • mortgagge
  • mortggae
  • mortggage
  • morttgage
  • motrgage
  • mrotgage
  • omrtgage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

mmortgage1morgtage2morrtgage1mortagge2mortgaeg2mortgagge1mortggae2mortggage1
Edit distance from "mortgage"

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 "mortgage"?
"mortgage" is spelled M-O-R-T-G-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/.
What does "mortgage" mean?
As a noun, "mortgage" means: A legal agreement in which a borrower pledges real property as collateral for a loan used to purchase or refinance that property.
What words are commonly confused with "mortgage"?
"mortgage" is commonly confused with "montage". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mortgage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mortgage" is /ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/. 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 "mortgage"?
From Middle English morgage and Middle French mortgage, from Anglo-Norman morgage, from Old French mort gage (“dead pledge”), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum wadium, with wadium from Frankish *wadi (“wager, pledge”). Compare... 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 "mortgage", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

lifetime#3,701observed#3,709handling#3,696resource#3,720

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

physics12 variantssciences12 variantsdiscover12 variantsdisaster12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list