vagrant
/ˈveɪɡɹənt/
"vagrant" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vagrant” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #39,151 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #39,151
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.
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 | vagrant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈveɪɡɹənt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #39,151 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vagrant” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for vagrant is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈveɪɡɹənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,151 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for vagrant, with forms such as "avgrant", "vagarnt", and "vaggrant". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "variant", "vibrant", "valiant", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English vagraunt (“person without proper employment; person without a fixed abode, tramp, vagabond”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) [and other forms] and Old French walcrant, waucrant … The correct English form is vagrant, spelled V-A-G-R-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.
- 2A person without settled employment or habitation who usually supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond.
- 3Vagrans egista, a widely distributed Asian butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
- 4An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.
Etymology
From Late Middle English vagraunt (“person without proper employment; person without a fixed abode, tramp, vagabond”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) [and other forms] and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”) [and other forms], perhaps influenced by Latin vagārī, the present active infinitive of vagor (“to ramble, stroll about; to roam, rove, wander”). Old French walcrant is the present participle of vagrer, wacrer, walcrer (“to wander, wander about as a vagabond”) [and other forms], from Frankish *walkrōn (“to wander about”), the frequentative form of *walkōn (“to walk; to wander; to stomp, trample; to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing)”), from Proto-Germanic *walkōną (“to roll about, wallow; to full”), *walkaną (“to turn, wind; to toss; to roll, roll about; to wend; to walk; to wander; to trample; to full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg-, *walk-, *welgʰ-, *welk-, *wolg- (“to turn, twist; to move”), ultimately from *welH- (“to turn; to wind”). The English word is cognate with Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”), Middle Dutch walken (“to knead; to full”), Old English wealcan (“to roll”), ġewealcan (“to go; to walk about”), Old High German walchan, walkan (“to move up and down; to press together; to full; to walk; to wander”), Old Norse valka (“to wander”). See further at walk.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: avgrant,vagarnt,vaggrant,vagrannt,vagrantt,vagratn,vagrnat,vagrrant,vargant,vgarant,vvagrant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vagrant - 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
How do you spell "vagrant"?
What does "vagrant" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "vagrant"?
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Using “vagrant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-G-R-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈveɪɡɹənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “variant” - see the side-by-side comparison. vagrant vs variant
- 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.