two
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "two", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "two" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "two" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
two is aEnglishnum. It means: A numerical value equal to 2; this many dots (••). Pronounced /tu/. It ranks #86 in English word frequency. Often confused with TX and Ty.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | two |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Num |
| IPA | /tu/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #86 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for two is 3 letters long, classified as anum, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tu/. Corpus data places it at rank #86 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for two in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TX", "Ty", "tye", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English two, twa, from Old English twā, feminine and neuter of twēġen (whence twain), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognates Cognate with Scots twa (“two”); North Fr… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is two, spelled T-W-O, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A numerical value equal to 2; this many dots (••).
- 2Describing a set or group with two elements.
Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English two, twa, from Old English twā, feminine and neuter of twēġen (whence twain), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognates Cognate with Scots twa (“two”); North Frisian tou, tuu (“two”); Saterland Frisian twäin, two (“two”); West Frisian twa (“two”); Dutch twee (“two”); Low German twee, twei (“two”); German zwei, zwo (“two”); Danish and Norwegian to (“two”); Swedish två, tu (“two”); Icelandic tvö (“two”); Faroese tvey (“two”); Latin duō (“two”); Ancient Greek δύο (dúo, “two”); Irish dhá (“two”); Lithuanian dù (“two”); Russian два (dva, “two”); Albanian dy (“two”); Old Armenian երկու (erku, “two”); Sanskrit द्व (dvá, “two”); Tocharian A wu, Tocharian B wi. Doublet of duo. See also twain. Unrelated to similar words in Austronesian languages such as Malagasy roa; Tagalog and Cebuano dalawa; West Coast Bajau and Minangkabau duo; Buginese ᨉᨘᨓ (dua); Indonesian, Malay, Iban, Iranun, Ilocano, and Sundanese dua; Fijian, Māori, Rapa Nui, and Rotuman rua; Tongan and Niuean ua; Wallisian, Samoan, and Hawaiian lua; and South Marquesan 'ua; which originated from Proto-Austronesian *duSa.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #86 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index: