turn a deaf ear
"turn-a-deaf-ear" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“turn a deaf ear” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To refuse to listen to.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | turn a deaf ear |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “turn a deaf ear” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for turn a deaf ear is 15 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To refuse to listen to.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for turn a deaf ear, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is turn a deaf ear, spelled T-U-R-N- -A- -D-E-A-F- -E-A-R.
Definition
- 1To refuse to listen to.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “turn a deaf ear”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-R-N- -A- -D-E-A-F- -E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.