occur
/əˈkɜː/
"occur" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“occur” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,187. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,187
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To happen or take place.
Corpus desk
Index EN-occur · occur · English
occur · rank #3,187 · 5 variants · 9 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,187
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH nights
Nearest frequency peer: nights (-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 “occur”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- mirror
mirror
96,817 corpus weight
- mount
mount
96,816 corpus weight
- nights
nights
96,815 corpus weight
- occur
occur
96,814 corpus weight
- parking
parking
96,813 corpus weight
- proposal
proposal
96,812 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “occur” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | occur |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈkɜː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,187 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “occur” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around occur (IPA /əˈkɜː/), averb. Corpus frequency is #3,187 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for occur, with forms such as "cocur", "occru", and "occurr". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "our", "OCR", "Oscar", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally "meet (in argument)", borrowed from Middle French occurrer, from Latin occurrō (“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”) from prefix ob- (“against”) + verb currō (“run, hurry, move”). The correct English form is occur, spelled O-C-C-U-R.
Definition
- 1To happen or take place.
- 2To present or offer itself.
- 3To come or be presented to the mind; to suggest itself.
- 4To be present or found.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how occur appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The liftoff will occur in exactly twelve seconds.
And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
Etymology
Originally "meet (in argument)", borrowed from Middle French occurrer, from Latin occurrō (“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”) from prefix ob- (“against”) + verb currō (“run, hurry, move”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cocur
- occru
- occurr
- ocucr
- ocur
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of occur - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "occur"?
What does "occur" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "occur", 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 (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "occur". Here's where to go from here.
- "occur" maps to 9 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "our". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #3,187 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "O" letter cohort. O–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.