phone
/fəʊ̯n/
"phone" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“phone” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #506. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #506
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device for transmitting conversations and other sounds in real time across distances, now often a small portable unit also capable of running software etc.
Corpus desk
Index EN-phone · phone · English
phone · rank #506 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #506
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 46,516
- PHOTO-FINISH media
Nearest frequency peer: media (-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 “phone”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- living
living
99,498 corpus weight
- major
major
99,497 corpus weight
- media
media
99,496 corpus weight
- phone
phone
99,495 corpus weight
- players
players
99,494 corpus weight
- art
art
99,493 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “phone” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | phone |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fəʊ̯n/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #506 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “phone” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around phone (IPA /fəʊ̯n/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #506 among 46,516 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for phone, with forms such as "hpone", "phhone", and "phnoe". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Poe", "pon", "pope", 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 *kʷelh₁-der. Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle)lbor. French télé- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ)der. French -phone French téléphonebor. English telephone English phone Clipping of telephone; first attest… The correct English form is phone, spelled P-H-O-N-E.
Definition
- 1A device for transmitting conversations and other sounds in real time across distances, now often a small portable unit also capable of running software etc.
- 2A person's telephone number (as a means of contact); digits.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how phone appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Daragh's on the phone at the moment. He'll call you when he's finished.
My phone ran out of battery.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-der. Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle)lbor. French télé- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der. Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ)der. French -phone French téléphonebor. English telephone English phone Clipping of telephone; first attested in 1884.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hpone
- phhone
- phnoe
- phoen
- phonne
- pohne
- pphone
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of phone - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "phone", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
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.