verge
/vɜːd͡ʒ/
"verge" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“verge” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,819 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,819
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
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 | verge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /vɜːd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #11,819 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “verge” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for verge is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /vɜːd͡ʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,819 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for verge, with forms such as "evrge", "vegre", and "vereg". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "very", "vert", "vers", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of unknown origin. Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c.1400). Modern sense… The correct English form is verge, spelled V-E-R-G-E.
Definition
- 1A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
- 2A rod or staff of office, e.g. of a verger.
- 3An edge or border.
- 4An edge or border.
- 5An edge or border.
- 6The phallus.
- 7The phallus.
- 8An old measure of land: a virgate or yardland.
- 9A circumference; a circle; a ring.
- 10The shaft of a column, or a small ornamental shaft.
- 11The eaves or edge of the roof that projects over the gable of a roof.
- 12The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of unknown origin. Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c.1400). Modern sense is from the notion of 'within the verge' (1509, also as Anglo-Norman dedeinz la verge), i.e. "subject to the Lord High Steward's authority" (as symbolized by the rod of office), originally a 12-mile radius round the royal court, which sense shifted to "the outermost edge of an expanse or area." Doublet of virga.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: evrge,vegre,vereg,vergge,verrge,vrege,vverge
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of verge - 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.
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
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Using “verge”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-E-R-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /vɜːd͡ʒ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “very” - see the side-by-side comparison. verge vs very
- 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.