nurse

/nɜːs/

//nɜːs// noun

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

"nurse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nurse” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,640. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,640
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:

Corpus desk

Index EN-nurse · nurse · English

nurse · rank #3,640 · 7 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,640
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH nowhere

Nearest frequency peer: nowhere (-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 “nurse”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “nurse” 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).

nurse vs nuts
60% similar
nurse vs nursery
71% similar
nurse vs Nur
40% similar

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

Key facts for nurse
PropertyValue
Headwordnurse
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/nɜːs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,640
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “nurse”

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).nurselands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “nowhere” (#3,639), “obtain” (#3,641), “nah” (#3,638). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “nurse” is #3,640. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around nurse (IPA /nɜːs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,640 among 1,534 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for nurse, with forms such as "nnurse", "nruse", and "nures". 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 12 confusable-pair relationships, "nuts", "nursery", "Nur", 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 norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”). The correct English form is nurse, spelled N-U-R-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
  2. 2
    A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
  3. 3
    A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
  4. 4
    A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s children.
  5. 5
    One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters.
  6. 6
    A shrub or tree that protects a young plant.
  7. 7
    A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
  8. 8
    A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
  9. 9
    A wet nurse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. My aunt was my nurse while I recuperated at home from surgery.
  2. The nurse made her rounds through the hospital ward.

Etymology

From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).

This word in other languages

enfermera(Español)infirmière(Français)Krankenschwester(Deutsch)enfermeira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • nnurse
  • nruse
  • nures
  • nurrse
  • nursse
  • nusre
  • unrse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nurse - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

nnurse1nruse2nures2nurrse1nursse1nusre2unrse2
Edit distance from "nurse"

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 "nurse"?
"nurse" is spelled N-U-R-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is /nɜːs/.
What does "nurse" mean?
As a noun, "nurse" means: A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
What words are commonly confused with "nurse"?
"nurse" is commonly confused with "nuts", "nursery", "Nur". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nurse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nurse" is /nɜːs/. 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 "nurse"?
From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”). 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 "nurse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

marry#3,637layer#3,635hopes#3,630rugby#3,651

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

recall7 variantssheet7 variantsforth7 variantssudden7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list