oyster
/ˈɔɪ.stə/
"oyster" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“oyster” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,181 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,181
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or ...
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 | oyster |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɔɪ.stə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #14,181 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “oyster” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for oyster is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɔɪ.stə/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,181 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for oyster, with forms such as "osyter", "oysetr", and "oysster". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "oysters", "outer", "otter", 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Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεο… The correct English form is oyster, spelled O-Y-S-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
- 2The delicate oyster-shaped morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.
- 3A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
- 4A person who keeps secrets.
- 5Something at one's disposal.
- 6A shoplifter.
- 7Ellipsis of Oyster card.
Etymology
From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon). Doublet of ostro (“a purple dye”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: osyter,oysetr,oysster,oysterr,oystre,oystter,oytser,oyyster,yoster
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of oyster - 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
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Using “oyster”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-Y-S-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɔɪ.stə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “oysters” - see the side-by-side comparison. oyster vs oysters
- 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.