peg
/pɛɡ/
"peg" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“peg” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,243 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,243
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
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 | peg |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɛɡ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #15,243 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “peg” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for peg is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɛɡ/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,243 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for peg, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PM", "PP", "PR", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Lo… The correct English form is peg, spelled P-E-G.
Definition
- 1A cylindrical wooden or metal object used to fasten or as a bearing between objects.
- 2A protrusion used to hang things on.
- 3A support; a reason; a pretext.
- 4A peg moved on a crib board to keep score.
- 5A fixed exchange rate, where a currency's value is matched to the value of another currency or measure such as gold.
- 6A small quantity of a strong alcoholic beverage.
- 7A place formally allotted for fishing
- 8A leg or foot.
- 9One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained.
- 10A step; a degree.
- 11Ellipsis of clothes peg.
- 12A topic of interest, such as an ongoing event or an anniversary, around which various features can be developed.
- 13A stump.
- 14The penetration during anal sex using a strap-on dildo.
- 15A serving of brandy and soda.
- 16A serving of any hard spirit, particularly whisky.
- 17A shilling.
- 18An easily recalled image that a person mentally visualizes with something else, in order to remember that other thing. See mnemonic peg system.
Etymology
From Middle English pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge (“pin, peg”), from Old Dutch *pigg-, *pegg-, from Proto-Germanic *pig-, *pag- (“peg, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“club, pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Dutch dialectal peg (“pin”), Low German pig, pigge (“peg, stick with a point”), Low German pegel (“post, stake”), Swedish pigg (“tooth, spike”), Danish pig (“spike”), Norwegian Bokmål pigg (“spike”), Irish bac (“stick, crook”), Latin baculum (“staff”), Latvian bakstît (“to poke”), Ancient Greek βάκτρον (báktron, “staff, walking stick”). Related to beak. This is one of the very few English words that begin with a p and come from Proto-Germanic. Proto-Germanic *p, when not in a consonant cluster beginning with *s, developed by Grimm's law from the Proto-Indo-European consonant *b, which was very rare. (To indicate or ascribe an attribute to): Assumed to originate from the use of pegs or pins as markers on a bulletin board or a list.
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); 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 "peg"?
What does "peg" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "peg"?
How do you pronounce "peg"?
What is the origin of the word "peg"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “peg”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɛɡ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “PM” - see the side-by-side comparison. peg vs PM
- 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.