pet
/pɛt/
"pet" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pet” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,323 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,323
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use.
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 | pet |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɛt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #3,323 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pet” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pet is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɛt/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,323 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pet, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. 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: Originally northern dialectal, from Scots pet (“an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child”), probably from Scottish Gaelic peata (“pet, tamed animal, spoiled child”), from Middle Irish petta, peta … The correct English form is pet, spelled P-E-T.
Definition
- 1An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use.
- 2Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects (pet rock, pet plant, etc.).
- 3One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.
- 4Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
Etymology
Originally northern dialectal, from Scots pet (“an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child”), probably from Scottish Gaelic peata (“pet, tamed animal, spoiled child”), from Middle Irish petta, peta (“pet, lap-dog”), of uncertain origin, possibly from a pre-Indo-European substrate. Compare also peat (“pet, darling, woman”), which is likely not related. The verb is derived from the noun.
Synonyms
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
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Using “pet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɛt/ (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. pet 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.