north
/nɔːθ/
"north" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“north” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #458. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #458
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invar...
Corpus desk
Index EN-north · north · English
north · rank #458 · 8 variants · 18 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #458
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH leave
Nearest frequency peer: leave (-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 “north”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- data
data
99,546 corpus weight
- late
late
99,545 corpus weight
- leave
leave
99,544 corpus weight
- north
north
99,543 corpus weight
- saw
saw
99,542 corpus weight
- special
special
99,541 corpus weight
What this shows “north” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | north |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɔːθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #458 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “north”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around north (IPA /nɔːθ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #458 among 1,534 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for north, with forms such as "nnorth", "norht", and "norrth". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "not", "nth", "note", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic *norþr, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" o… The correct English form is north, spelled N-O-R-T-H.
Definition
- 1The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.
- 2The up or positive direction.
- 3The positive or north pole of a magnet, which seeks the magnetic pole near Earth's geographic North Pole (which, for its magnetic properties, is a south pole).
- 4Alternative letter-case form of North (“a northern region; the inhabitants thereof”).
- 5In a church: the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how north appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Minnesota is in the north of the USA.
Stock prices are heading back towards the north.
Etymology
From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic *norþr, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" or from "left side of someone who turns to the east when praying". Cognates Cognate with various Germanic counterparts such as Yola noardth, nordh (“north”), North Frisian noor, nord, nuurd, Nuurđ (“north”), Saterland Frisian Noude, Nudde (“north”), West Frisian noard (“north”), Dutch noord (“north”), German Nord (“north”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk nord (“north”), Faroese, Icelandic norður (“north”), Swedish nord, norr (“north”); also with Ancient Greek νέρτερος (nérteros), ἐνέρτερος (enérteros, “below”), Russian нора (nora, “hole”), Lithuanian nėrõvė (“mermaid, nymph”), Oscan 𐌍𐌄𐌓𐌕𐌓𐌀𐌊 (nertrak, “left”), Umbrian nertru (“left”), Sanskrit नरक (naraka, “hell”), Tocharian B ñor (“below”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- nnorth
- norht
- norrth
- northh
- nortth
- notrh
- nroth
- onrth
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of north - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "north", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).