serge
/sɜːd͡ʒ/
"serge" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“serge” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,925. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #21,925
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A type of worsted cloth.
Corpus desk
Index EN-serge · serge · English
serge · rank #21,925 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #21,925
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH selfishness
Nearest frequency peer: selfishness (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “serge”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Santana
Santana
78,081 corpus weight
- seaweed
seaweed
78,079 corpus weight
- seduction
seduction
78,078 corpus weight
- selfishness
selfishness
78,077 corpus weight
- serge
serge
78,076 corpus weight
- sexiest
sexiest
78,071 corpus weight
What this shows “serge” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | serge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɜːd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #21,925 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “serge”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around serge (IPA /sɜːd͡ʒ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #21,925 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for serge, with forms such as "esrge", "segre", and "sereg". 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, "sure", "sore", "sire", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sarge, from Old French sarge, serge, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica (“silken, silk things”), from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), possibly from Old Chinese 絲 (*s… The correct English form is serge, spelled S-E-R-G-E.
Definition
- 1A type of worsted cloth.
- 2A garment made of this fabric.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how serge appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lucy, who had only seen her in either the large loose wrapping dress of serge, or in the quaint simplicity of the Puritanic garb, then so general in England, could not restrain an exclamation of admiration as she returned to their chamber.
What I noticed most strongly was his smell, of hair oil and serge and cigarette smoke, and something else, something intimate and sour and wholly, shockingly other.
Etymology
From Middle English sarge, from Old French sarge, serge, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica (“silken, silk things”), from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), possibly from Old Chinese 絲 (*sə, “silk”). Doublet of silk and seric.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- esrge
- segre
- sereg
- sergge
- serrge
- srege
- sserge
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of serge - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "serge", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).