set fire to
"set-fire-to" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“set fire to” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To cause (something) to be on fire; to set (something) alight.
Corpus desk
Index EN-set-fire-to · set fire to · English
set fire to · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | set fire to |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “set fire to” in English
Rare enough to double-check
set fire to is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for set fire to in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is set fire to, spelled S-E-T- -F-I-R-E- -T-O.
Definition
- 1To cause (something) to be on fire; to set (something) alight.
- 2To destroy or dismantle (something).
- 3To stir up intense emotion or action in (something).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how set fire to appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They set fire to the house.
A freight train became completely derailed, blocking the tunnel entrance, and six of the wagons rolled down the mountainside, demolishing and setting fire on their way to a guard house, in which three soldiers were killed.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.