pluck
/plʌk/
"pluck" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pluck” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,547 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #24,547
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To pull something sharply; to pull something out
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 | pluck |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /plʌk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #24,547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pluck” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pluck is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /plʌk/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,547 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pluck, with forms such as "lpuck", "plcuk", and "plluck". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "plus", "punk", "plug", 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 plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plu… The correct English form is pluck, spelled P-L-U-C-K.
Definition
- 1To pull something sharply; to pull something out
- 2To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
- 3To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.
- 4To remove feathers from (a bird).
- 5To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).
- 6To play a string instrument pizzicato.
- 7To pull or twitch sharply.
- 8To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
- 9Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.
Etymology
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpuck,plcuk,plluck,plucck,pluckk,plukc,ppluck,pulck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pluck - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pluck"?
What does "pluck" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pluck"?
How do you pronounce "pluck"?
What is the origin of the word "pluck"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pluck”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-L-U-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /plʌk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “plus” - see the side-by-side comparison. pluck vs plus
- 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.