nut

/nʌt/

//nʌt// noun

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

"nut" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nut” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,715) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,715
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nut · nut · English

nut · rank #6,715 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,715
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH nonetheless

Nearest frequency peer: nonetheless (-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 “nut”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “nut” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

nut vs NZ
0% similar
nut vs NYC
0% similar
nut vs nye
33% similar

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

Key facts for nut
PropertyValue
Headwordnut
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/nʌt/
Letters3
Frequency rank#6,715
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “nut” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).nut lands 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. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nut is neighbouring look-alikes ("NZ", "NYC", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /nʌt/. Frequency #6,715 among 1,534 “N” headwords. 21 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for nut in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NZ", "NYC", "nye", 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 note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction o… The correct English form is nut, spelled N-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
  2. 2
    Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
  3. 3
    A piece of hardware, typically metal and typically hexagonal or square in shape, with a hole through it having internal screw threads, intended to be screwed onto a threaded bolt or other threaded shaft.
  4. 4
    The head.
  5. 5
    A crazy person.
  6. 6
    An extreme enthusiast.
  7. 7
    An extravagantly fashionable young man.
  8. 8
    Senses related to male genitalia.
  9. 9
    Senses related to male genitalia.
  10. 10
    Senses related to male genitalia.
  11. 11
    Senses related to male genitalia.
  12. 12
    Monthly expense to keep a venture running.
  13. 13
    The amount of money necessary to set up some venture; set-up costs.
  14. 14
    A stash of money owned by an extremely rich investor, sufficient to sustain a high level of consumption if all other money is lost.
  15. 15
    On stringed instruments such as guitars and violins, the small piece at the peghead end of the fingerboard that holds the strings at the proper spacing and, in most cases, the proper height.
  16. 16
    En, a unit of measurement equal to half of the height of the type in use.
  17. 17
    A shaped piece of metal, threaded by a wire loop, which is jammed in a crack in the rockface and used to protect a climb. (Originally, machine nuts [sense #2] were used for this purpose.)
  18. 18
    The best possible hand of a certain type. Compare nuts (“the best possible hand available”).
  19. 19
    The tumbler of a gunlock.
  20. 20
    A projection on each side of the shank of an anchor, to secure the stock in place.
  21. 21
    A small rounded cake or cookie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. There are many sorts of nuts: peanuts, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts and more.
  2. As the bolt tightens into the nut, it pulls the tenon on the side rail into the mortise in the bedpost and locks them together. There are also some European beds that reverse the bolt and nut by setting the nut into the bedpost with the bolt inserted into a slotted area in the side of the rail.

Etymology

From Middle English note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European (substrate) origin. See also West Frisian nút, Dutch noot, German Nuss, Danish nød, Swedish nöt, Norwegian nøtt.

Synonyms

nut

This word in other languages

nuez(Español)fruit sec(Français)Nuss(Deutsch)noz(Português)

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

How do you spell "nut"?
"nut" is spelled N-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is /nʌt/.
What does "nut" mean?
As a noun, "nut" means: Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
What words are commonly confused with "nut"?
"nut" is commonly confused with "NZ", "NYC", "nye". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nut"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nut" is /nʌt/. 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 "nut"?
From Middle English note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the res... 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 "nut", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cum#6,672ave#6,654fur#6,789GPS#6,790

What to do next

You've looked up "nut". Here's where to go from here.

  • "nut" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "NZ". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #6,715 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "N" letter cohort. N–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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list