ord

noun

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

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

The verdict

“ord” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #30,520) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#30,520
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A point.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ord · ord · English

ord · rank #30,520 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,520
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH Oreo

Nearest frequency peer: Oreo (+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 “ord”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ord” 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).

ord vs OS
0% similar
ord vs oz
33% similar
ord vs OT
0% similar

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

Key facts for ord
PropertyValue
Headwordord
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#30,520
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ord” sits in English frequency

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).ordlands 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 “Oreo” (#30,521), “odour” (#30,518), “Odell” (#30,517). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ord is neighbouring look-alikes ("OS", "oz", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #30,520 among 1,431 “O” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

ord has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "OS", "oz", "OT", 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 ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *uzdaz). Cog… The correct English form is ord, spelled O-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A point.
  2. 2
    A point of origin; a beginning.
  3. 3
    A point of land; a promontory.
  4. 4
    The point or edge of a weapon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. "[...] But such is life — hard upon hard from ord to end; and if I had not been made of the best of neat-leather, the longer in water the tougher, I would have melted away with my tears long ago!"
  2. [...] Tell me wholly as it was From ord to end how it did pass When first your father was of me ware.

Etymology

From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *uzdaz). Cognate with North Frisian od (“tip, place, beginning”), Dutch oord (“place, region”), German Ort (“location, place, position”), Danish od (“a point”), Swedish udd (“a point, prick”), Icelandic oddur (“tip, point of a weapon, leader”). See also odd.

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 "ord"?
"ord" is spelled O-R-D.
What does "ord" mean?
As a noun, "ord" means: A point.
What words are commonly confused with "ord"?
"ord" is commonly confused with "OS", "oz", "OT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "ord"?
From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *u... 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 "ord", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

nai#30,509Mme#30,506maw#30,495Kok#30,477

What to do next

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

  • "ord" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "OS". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #30,520 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list