pretend
/pɹəˈtɛnd/
"pretend" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pretend” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,108 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #4,108
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
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 | pretend |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pɹəˈtɛnd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,108 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pretend” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pretend is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹəˈtɛnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,108 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for pretend, with forms such as "pertend", "ppretend", and "preetnd". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "preyed", "prevent", "pretext", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-der. Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae- Proto-Indo-European *ten- Proto-Indo-European *tend-der. Proto-Italic *tendō Latin tendō Latin praetendōbor. Anglo-Norman pretendrede… The correct English form is pretend, spelled P-R-E-T-E-N-D.
Definition
- 1To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
- 2To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
- 3To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance.
- 4To lay claim (to an ability, status, advantage, etc.).
- 5To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
- 6To intend; to design, to plot; to attempt.
- 7To hold before one; to extend.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-der. Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Latin prae- Proto-Indo-European *ten- Proto-Indo-European *tend-der. Proto-Italic *tendō Latin tendō Latin praetendōbor. Anglo-Norman pretendreder. English pretend From Anglo-Norman pretendre, Middle French pretendre (French prétendre (“to claim, demand”)), from Latin praetendere (“to put forward, hold out, pretend”), from prae- (“pre-”) + tendō (“stretch”); see tend.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pertend,ppretend,preetnd,pretedn,pretendd,pretennd,pretned,prettend,prretend,prteend,rpetend
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pretend - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "pretend"?
What does "pretend" mean?
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Using “pretend”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-E-T-E-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹəˈtɛnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “preyed” - see the side-by-side comparison. pretend vs preyed
- 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.