variety

/vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/

//vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"variety" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“variety” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,846. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,846
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A deviation or difference.

Corpus desk

Index EN-variety · variety · English

variety · rank #1,846 · 10 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,846
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH unique

Nearest frequency peer: unique (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “variety”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “variety” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

variety vs verity
71% similar
variety vs varsity
71% similar
variety vs varied
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for variety
PropertyValue
Headwordvariety
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,846
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “variety”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).varietylands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “unique” (#1,845), “violence” (#1,847), “treat” (#1,844). Among 969 “V” headwords, “variety” is #1,846. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around variety (IPA /vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,846 among 969 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for variety, with forms such as "avriety", "vairety", and "vareity". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "verity", "varsity", "varied", 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 French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various… The correct English form is variety, spelled V-A-R-I-E-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A deviation or difference.
  2. 2
    A specific variation of something.
  3. 3
    A specific variation of something.
  4. 4
    A specific variation of something.
  5. 5
    A specific variation of something.
  6. 6
    A specific variation of something.
  7. 7
    A collection or number of different things.
  8. 8
    A collection or number of different things.
  9. 9
    A collection or number of different things.
  10. 10
    A collection or number of different things.
  11. 11
    Ellipsis of variety performance or variety show (“a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.”).
  12. 12
    The quality of being varied; diversity.
  13. 13
    The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The difference, therefore, in theſe animals, ariſes rather from their habits than their confirmation; and, upon examination, there will be leſs variety found betvween them than between birds that live upon land, and thoſe that ſwim upon the water.
  2. The ſpirit of that competition burns / With all varieties of ill by turns, / Each vainly magnifies his own ſucceſs, / Reſents his fellows, wiſhes it were leſs, […]

Etymology

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety. Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes. Sense 1.3.2 (“total number of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956). Cognates * Galician variedade (“variety”) * Italian varietà (“difference; variety”) * Portuguese variedade (“variety”) * Spanish variedad (“breed; variety”)

This word in other languages

variedad(Español)variété(Français)Sorte(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • avriety
  • vairety
  • vareity
  • varietty
  • varietyy
  • varieyt
  • varitey
  • varriety
  • vraiety
  • vvariety

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of variety - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

avriety2vairety2vareity2varietty1varietyy1varieyt2varitey2varriety1
Edit distance from "variety"

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 "variety"?
"variety" is spelled V-A-R-I-E-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/.
What does "variety" mean?
As a noun, "variety" means: A deviation or difference.
What words are commonly confused with "variety"?
"variety" is commonly confused with "verity", "varsity", "varied". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "variety"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "variety" is /vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/. 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 "variety"?
From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysi... 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 "variety", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

weapons#1,848suggest#1,840excited#1,860forever#1,861

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

develop10 variantsordered10 variantsaccounts10 variantsAngeles10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list