phot
/fəʊt/
"phot" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“phot” is uncommon English (frequency #83,621 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,621
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A photometric unit of illuminance, or luminous flux through an area (symbol ph).
Corpus desk
Index EN-phot · phot · English
phot · rank #83,621 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,621
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH phloem
Nearest frequency peer: phloem (-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 “phot”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- perspiring
perspiring
16,385 corpus weight
- phloem
phloem
16,381 corpus weight
- phot
phot
16,380 corpus weight
- photog
photog
16,379 corpus weight
- pinafore
pinafore
16,376 corpus weight
- plasmon
plasmon
16,373 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “phot” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | phot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fəʊt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #83,621 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “phot” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
phot is uncommon English at frequency #83,621 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /fəʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A photometric unit of illuminance, or luminous flux through an area (symbol ph).".
No misspelling variants are generated for phot in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by André Blondel in 1921. See photo-. The correct English form is phot, spelled P-H-O-T.
Definition
- 1A photometric unit of illuminance, or luminous flux through an area (symbol ph).
Etymology
Coined by André Blondel in 1921. See photo-.
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 September 2, 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 "phot", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.