swift
/swɪft/
"swift" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“swift” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,635 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,635
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Fast; quick; rapid.
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 | swift |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /swɪft/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,635 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “swift” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for swift is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /swɪft/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,635 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. 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 swift, with forms such as "siwft", "sswift", and "swfit". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "swim", "swot", "swig", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revol… The correct English form is swift, spelled S-W-I-F-T.
Definition
- 1Fast; quick; rapid.
- 2Capable of moving at high speeds.
Etymology
From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: siwft,sswift,swfit,swifft,swiftt,switf,swwift,wsift
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of swift - 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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Using “swift”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-W-I-F-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /swɪft/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “swim” - see the side-by-side comparison. swift vs swim
- 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.