moth
/mɒθ/
"moth" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“moth” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,005. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,005
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera not in the superfamily Papilionoidea, most species of which are nocturnal and can be distinguished from butterflies by feather-like antennae.
Corpus desk
Index EN-moth · moth · English
moth · rank #15,005 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,005
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH monumental
Nearest frequency peer: monumental (-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 neighbourhood for “moth”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- moe
moe
84,998 corpus weight
- monumental
monumental
84,997 corpus weight
- moth
moth
84,996 corpus weight
- multiply
multiply
84,995 corpus weight
- MV
MV
84,994 corpus weight
- narcotics
narcotics
84,993 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “moth” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | moth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɒθ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #15,005 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “moth” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around moth (IPA /mɒθ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,005 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for moth, with forms such as "mmoth", "moht", and "mothh". 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, "MT", "mph", "MTV", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English moth, moththe, motthe, moght, mohþe, mouȝte, from Old English moþþe, mohþe, mohþa (“any destructive insect larva”), from Proto-West Germanic *moþþō, *mottō, from Proto-Germanic *muþþô, *muttô (“moth, worm”), from Proto-Indo-European *mut… The correct English form is moth, spelled M-O-T-H.
Definition
- 1Any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera not in the superfamily Papilionoidea, most species of which are nocturnal and can be distinguished from butterflies by feather-like antennae.
- 2Anything that gradually and silently eats, consumes, or wastes any other thing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how moth appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
Etymology
From Middle English moth, moththe, motthe, moght, mohþe, mouȝte, from Old English moþþe, mohþe, mohþa (“any destructive insect larva”), from Proto-West Germanic *moþþō, *mottō, from Proto-Germanic *muþþô, *muttô (“moth, worm”), from Proto-Indo-European *mutn-, *mut- (“worm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Motte (“moth”), West Frisian mot (“moth”), Dutch mot (“moth”), German Low German Motte, Mott (“moth”), German Motte (“moth”), Swedish mott (“moth”) and Norwegian Nynorsk mott (“moth”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- mmoth
- moht
- mothh
- motth
- mtoh
- omth
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of moth - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "moth", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "moth". Here's where to go from here.
- "moth" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "MT". View pair
- 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #15,005 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.