rogue
/ˈɹəʊɡ/
"rogue" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rogue” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,479 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,479
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
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 | rogue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹəʊɡ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,479 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rogue” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rogue is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹəʊɡ/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,479 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for rogue, with forms such as "orgue", "rgoue", and "rogeu". 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, "rue", "rose", "Rome", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain. From either: * Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“I ask”). * Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”)… The correct English form is rogue, spelled R-O-G-U-E.
Definition
- 1A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.
- 2A mischievous scamp.
- 3A vagrant.
- 4Malware that deceitfully presents itself as antispyware.
- 5An aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant.
- 6A horse, mule, or donkey that is difficult to control; a refractory horse, especially a racehorse.
- 7A plant that shows some undesirable variation.
- 8A character class focusing on stealthy conduct.
Etymology
Uncertain. From either: * Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“I ask”). * Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”), from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”), for which see Icelandic hroki (“arrogance”), though OED does not document this. * Celtic; see Breton rog (“haughty”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: orgue,rgoue,rogeu,roggue,rrogue
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rogue - 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
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Using “rogue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-O-G-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹəʊɡ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “rue” - see the side-by-side comparison. rogue vs rue
- 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.