reckon
/ˈɹɛkən/
"reckon" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reckon” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,267 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #10,267
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
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 | reckon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɹɛkən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #10,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “reckon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for reckon is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹɛkən/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,267 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for reckon, with forms such as "erckon", "rcekon", and "recckon". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "recon", "region", "rector", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ġerecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn (“to count, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rekan (“swift, ready, prompt”… The correct English form is reckon, spelled R-E-C-K-O-N.
Definition
- 1To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
- 2To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
- 3To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
- 4To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause
- 5To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e. to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
- 6To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
- 7To come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.
Etymology
From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ġerecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn (“to count, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rekan (“swift, ready, prompt”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to make straight or right”). Cognate with Scots rekkin (“to enumerate, mention, narrate, rehearse, count, calculate, compute”), Saterland Frisian reekenje (“to calculate, figure, reckon”), West Frisian rekkenje (“to account, tally, calculate, figure”), Dutch rekenen (“to count, calculate, reckon, charge”), German Low German reken (“to reckon”), German rechnen (“to count, reckon, calculate”), Danish regne (“to calculate”), Swedish räkna (“to count, calculate, reckon”), Icelandic reikna (“to calculate”), Latin rectus (“straight, right”). See also reck, reach.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erckon,rcekon,recckon,reckkon,reckno,reckonn,recokn,rekcon,rreckon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of reckon - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "reckon"?
What does "reckon" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "reckon"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “reckon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-C-K-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹɛkən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “recon” - see the side-by-side comparison. reckon vs recon
- 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.