net
/nɛt/
"net" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“net” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,799) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #1,799
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A mesh of string, cord or rope.
Corpus desk
Index EN-net · net · English
net · rank #1,799 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,799
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH map
Nearest frequency peer: map (-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 “net”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- magic
magic
98,205 corpus weight
- managed
managed
98,204 corpus weight
- map
map
98,203 corpus weight
- net
net
98,202 corpus weight
- owned
owned
98,201 corpus weight
- request
request
98,200 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “net” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | net |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɛt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #1,799 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “net”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for net is neighbouring look-alikes ("NJ", "ni", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /nɛt/. Frequency #1,799 among 1,534 “N” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for net, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NJ", "ni", "Ng", and more, 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 *neHd- Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Germanic *natją Proto-West Germanic *nati Old English nett Middle English net English net From Middle English net, from Old English net, nett, from Proto-West Germanic *nati, from Pro… The correct English form is net, spelled N-E-T.
Definition
- 1A mesh of string, cord or rope.
- 2A device made from such mesh, used for catching fish, butterflies, etc.
- 3A device made from such mesh, generally used for trapping something.
- 4Anything that has the appearance of such a device.
- 5A trap.
- 6Any set of polygons joined edge to edge that, when folded along the edges between adjoining polygons so that the outer edges touch, form a given polyhedron.
- 7A system that interconnects a number of users, locations etc. allowing transport or communication between them.
- 8A system that interconnects a number of users, locations etc. allowing transport or communication between them.
- 9A framework backed by a mesh, serving as the goal in hockey, soccer, lacrosse, etc.
- 10A mesh stretched to divide the court in tennis, badminton, volleyball, etc.
- 11The area of the court close to the net (mesh stretched to divide the court).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how net appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a hairnet; a mosquito net; a tennis net
Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *neHd- Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Germanic *natją Proto-West Germanic *nati Old English nett Middle English net English net From Middle English net, from Old English net, nett, from Proto-West Germanic *nati, from Proto-Germanic *natją (“net”), from Proto-Indo-European *neHd- (“to knot, turn, twist”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian näät (“net”), Saterland Frisian Nät (“net”), West Frisian and Dutch net (“net”), German and Luxembourgish Netz (“net”), Yiddish נעץ (nets, “net”), Danish, Elfdalian, Faroese, and Icelandic net (“net”), Norwegian Bokmål nett (“net”), Norwegian Nynorsk net, nett (“net”), Swedish nät (“net”), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐍄𐌹 (nati, “net”).
This word in other languages
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "net", not the corpus desk frequency band.