ush

/ʌʃ/

//ʌʃ// verb

"ush" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ush” is uncommon English (frequency #98,854 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#98,854
frequency rank, English
1,433
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To usher: to perform the action of an usher: to escort.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ush · ush · English

ush · rank #98,854 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #98,854
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,433
  • PHOTO-FINISH urogenital

Nearest frequency peer: urogenital (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “ush”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “ush” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ush
PropertyValue
Headwordush
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ʌʃ/
Letters3
Frequency rank#98,854
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ush” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).ushfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “urogenital” (#98,853), “USW” (#98,855), “vaccinium” (#98,857). Among 1,433 “U” headwords, “ush” is #98,854. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ush is uncommon English at frequency #98,854 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ʌʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To usher: to perform the action of an usher: to escort.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ush, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from usher. The correct English form is ush, spelled U-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    To usher: to perform the action of an usher: to escort.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how ush appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And she is Mrs. Freundlich’s dear friend, so old Mark, who was acting as usher, ushed her and Mrs. Preene to seats right up in front next to Claire so Mrs. Shaw could scope out everything I did.

Etymology

Back-formation from usher.

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

How do you spell "ush"?
"ush" is spelled U-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is /ʌʃ/.
What does "ush" mean?
As a verb, "ush" means: To usher: to perform the action of an usher: to escort.
How do you pronounce "ush"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ush" is /ʌʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "ush"?
Back-formation from usher. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ush", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list