though
/ðəʊ/
"though" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“though” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #298. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #298
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Despite that; however.
Corpus desk
Index EN-though · though · English
though · rank #298 · 9 variants · 13 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #298
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 27,828
- PHOTO-FINISH side
Nearest frequency peer: side (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “though”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- far
far
99,706 corpus weight
- job
job
99,705 corpus weight
- side
side
99,704 corpus weight
- though
though
99,703 corpus weight
- try
try
99,702 corpus weight
- went
went
99,701 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “though” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | though |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ðəʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #298 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “though” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around though (IPA /ðəʊ/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #298 among 27,828 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for though, with forms such as "htough", "thhough", and "thoguh". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "thug", "touch", "tough", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English though, thogh, from Old Norse *þóh (later þó). Superseded (in most dialects) Middle English thegh, from Old English þēah (“though, although, even if, that, however, nevertheless, yet, still; whether”). Both the Old Norse and Old English … The correct English form is though, spelled T-H-O-U-G-H.
Definition
- 1Despite that; however.
- 2Used to intensify statements or questions; indeed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how though appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I'm not paid to do all this paperwork for you. I will do it this once, though.
Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more…
Etymology
From Middle English though, thogh, from Old Norse *þóh (later þó). Superseded (in most dialects) Middle English thegh, from Old English þēah (“though, although, even if, that, however, nevertheless, yet, still; whether”). Both the Old Norse and Old English are from Proto-Germanic *þauh (“though”), from Proto-Indo-European *to-, suffixed with Proto-Germanic *-hw < Proto-Indo-European *-kʷe (“and”). Akin to Scots tho (“though”), Saterland Frisian dach (“though”), West Frisian dôch, dochs (“though”), Dutch doch (“though”), German doch (“though”), Danish dog (“though, however”), Swedish dock (“however, still”), Icelandic þó (“though”). More at that.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- htough
- thhough
- thoguh
- thouggh
- thoughh
- thouhg
- thuogh
- tohugh
- tthough
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of though - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "though", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
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.