NTU
"ntu" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“NTU” is uncommon English (frequency #67,690 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,690
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Initialism of nephelometric turbidity unit.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ntu · NTU · English
NTU · rank #67,690 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,690
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 24,391
- PHOTO-FINISH numerator
Nearest frequency peer: numerator (+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 “NTU”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Nobunaga
Nobunaga
32,316 corpus weight
- nonstick
nonstick
32,315 corpus weight
- nontrivial
nontrivial
32,314 corpus weight
- NTU
NTU
32,311 corpus weight
- numerator
numerator
32,310 corpus weight
- nutritive
nutritive
32,307 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “NTU” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | NTU |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #67,690 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “NTU” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
NTU is uncommon English at frequency #67,690 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Initialism of nephelometric turbidity unit.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for NTU, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is NTU, spelled N-T-U.
Definition
- 1Initialism of nephelometric turbidity unit.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how NTU appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The turbidity of Primo Water is 0.6 NTU which is well under the FDA's MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) of 5 NTU, according to Primo Water's 2009 Water Quality Analysis.
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 May 6, 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 "NTU", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.