ochre
/ˈəʊkə/
"ochre" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ochre” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #42,303 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #42,303
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
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 | ochre |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈəʊkə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #42,303 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ochre” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ochre is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈəʊkə/. Corpus data places it at rank #42,303 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for ochre, with forms such as "occhre", "ocher", and "ochhre". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "ore", "OCR", "ogre", 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 Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)). The correct English form is ochre, spelled O-C-H-R-E.
Definition
- 1A clay earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
- 2A somewhat dark yellowish orange colour.
- 3The stop codon sequence "UAA".
- 4Money, especially gold.
- 5Any of various brown-coloured hesperiid butterflies of the genus Trapezites.
Etymology
From Old French ocre and its source Latin ōchra, from Ancient Greek ὤχρα (ṓkhra, “pale yellow”), from ὠχρός (ōkhrós, “pale, ocher”) (modern Greek ωχρός (ochrós)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: occhre,ocher,ochhre,ochrre,ocrhe,ohcre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ochre - 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
How do you spell "ochre"?
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Using “ochre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-C-H-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈəʊkə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ore” - see the side-by-side comparison. ochre vs ore
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.