toast
/təʊst/
"toast" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“toast” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,624 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,624
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning).
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 | toast |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /təʊst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,624 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “toast” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for toast is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /təʊst/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,624 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for toast, with forms such as "otast", "taost", and "toasst". 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, "TOS", "tot", "tons", 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 tost, from the verb tosten (see below). Sense 3 is according to the Oxford English Dictionary a figurative application of sense 1 dating to 1674. It began as an epithet for a lady being supposed to flavour a bumper like a spiced toast pl… The correct English form is toast, spelled T-O-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1Bread that has been toasted (cooked lightly by browning).
- 2A proposed salutation (e.g. saying "cheers") while drinking alcohol.
- 3A person, group, or notable object to which a salutation with alcohol is made; a person or group held in similar esteem.
- 4Something that is irreparably damaged or used up, especially when destroyed by heat or fire; something which has been burnt to a crisp or incinerated.
- 5Something that will be no more; something subject to impending destruction, harm or injury.
- 6A type of extemporaneous narrative poem or rap.
- 7An old toast ("a lively fellow who drinks excessively").
- 8A transient, informational unclickable pop-up overlay, less interactive than a snackbar.
- 9A piece of toast.
Etymology
From Middle English tost, from the verb tosten (see below). Sense 3 is according to the Oxford English Dictionary a figurative application of sense 1 dating to 1674. It began as an epithet for a lady being supposed to flavour a bumper like a spiced toast placed in that drink. (In this context, a bumper is a drinking vessel filled to the brim.)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otast,taost,toasst,toastt,toats,tosat,ttoast
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of toast - 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 “toast”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-A-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /təʊst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “TOS” - see the side-by-side comparison. toast vs TOS
- 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.