other
/ˈʌðə/
"other" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“other” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #73 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #73
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - See other (determiner) below.
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 | other |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈʌðə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #73 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “other” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for other is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʌðə/. Corpus data places it at rank #73 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for other, with forms such as "ohter", "otehr", and "otherr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "over", "owner", "outer", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂en Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂énteros Proto-Germanic *anþeraz Proto-West Germanic *anþar Old English ōþer Middle English other English other From Middle English other, from Old English ōþer (“oth… The correct English form is other, spelled O-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1See other (determiner) below.
- 2Second.
- 3Alien.
- 4Different.
- 5Left, as opposed to right.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂en Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂énteros Proto-Germanic *anþeraz Proto-West Germanic *anþar Old English ōþer Middle English other English other From Middle English other, from Old English ōþer (“other, second”), from Proto-West Germanic *ą̄þar, *anþar, from Proto-Germanic *anþeraz (“other, second”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énteros (“other”). Cognate with Scots uther, ither (“other”), Old Frisian ōther, ("other"; > North Frisian ouder, öler, üđer, Saterland Frisian uur, West Frisian oar), Old Saxon ōthar, ("other"; > Low German anner), Old Dutch āthar, ("other"; > Afrikaans ander, Dutch ander), Old High German andar, ("other"; > Cimbrian andar, German ander, anderer, Luxembourgish aner, Mòcheno ònder, Yiddish אַנדער (ander)), Old Norse annarr, ("other"; > Danish anden, Faroese annar, Icelandic annar, Jamtish æðnen, ænnen, Norwegian Bokmål annen, Norwegian Nynorsk annan, Swedish annan), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌸𐌰𐍂 (anþar, “other”), Old Prussian anters, antars (“other, second”), Lithuanian antroks (“other”, pronoun), Latvian otrs, otrais (“second”), Macedonian втор (vtor, “second”), Albanian ndërroj (“to change, switch, alternate”), Sanskrit अन्तर (ántara, “different”). French autre, Spanish otro, Portuguese outro, etc., all from Latin alter, are false cognates. A true cognate would be Latin anterior.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ohter,otehr,otherr,othher,othre,otther,toher
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of other - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Using “other”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-T-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʌðə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “over” - see the side-by-side comparison. other vs over
- 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.