swath
/swɒθ/
"swath" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“swath” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,974 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #35,974
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The track cut out by a scythe in mowing.
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 | swath |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /swɒθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #35,974 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “swath” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for swath is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /swɒθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,974 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for swath, with forms such as "sawth", "sswath", and "swaht". 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, "sway", "swot", "sweat", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swath, swathe, from Old English swæþ, swaþu (“track; trace; footstep”), from Proto-Germanic *swaþō (“a wind-swept place; open field”), of unknown further origin. Has been derived from a Proto-Indo-European *swey- (“to bend, turn, swing”)… The correct English form is swath, spelled S-W-A-T-H.
Definition
- 1The track cut out by a scythe in mowing.
- 2A broad sweep or expanse, such as of land or of people.
Etymology
From Middle English swath, swathe, from Old English swæþ, swaþu (“track; trace; footstep”), from Proto-Germanic *swaþō (“a wind-swept place; open field”), of unknown further origin. Has been derived from a Proto-Indo-European *swey- (“to bend, turn, swing”), and compared with Ancient Greek σιμός (simós, “snub-nosed”) and Welsh chwil (“reeling, staggering”), though this is uncertain, as well as the Greek comparandum being unlikely. Cognate with Dutch zwade, zwad (“swath; windrow”), German Schwade (“swath; windrow”), Icelandic svæði (“area; zone; sector; region”). other etymological information Corresponds to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch swat, Middle High German and MNG swade, NDu swad(e), Old Frisian swethe (“border”). Root meaning: trace of a cut. Attested in English since 888 in its obsolete meaning of track or trace, since 1475 in its more modern usage. Cognate with German Schwaden (“row of mown grass or grain”). No definite cognates outside Germanic languages. * See F. Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch (De Gruyter), entry Schwaden, and OED.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sawth,sswath,swaht,swathh,swatth,swtah,swwath,wsath
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of swath - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “swath”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-W-A-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /swɒθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sway” - see the side-by-side comparison. swath vs sway
- 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.