on target
"on-target" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“on target” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Accurate, or accurately predicted.
Corpus desk
Index EN-on-target · on target · English
on target · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | on target |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “on target” in English
Rare enough to double-check
on target is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for on target, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is on target, spelled O-N- -T-A-R-G-E-T.
Definition
- 1Accurate, or accurately predicted.
- 2With accuracy.
- 3Towards the goal.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how on target appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The second quartile's figures were right on target.
But the elephants so moved me yesterday that I wanted very much to go [to the circus] again. My sother recognized that when she spoke to me on the phone and after the show she said, "I know when I'm dealing with a three-year old." She was exactly on target, as always.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.