visit
/ˈvɪzɪt/
"visit" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“visit” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #980 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #980
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
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 | visit |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈvɪzɪt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #980 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “visit” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for visit is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvɪzɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #980 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 8 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 visit, with forms such as "ivsit", "viist", and "visitt". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "Vit", "vivid", "vista", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced native Old Engl… The correct English form is visit, spelled V-I-S-I-T.
Definition
- 1To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
- 2To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.
- 3Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
- 4To punish, to inflict harm upon (someone or something).
- 5Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).
- 6To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) on or upon someone.
- 7To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
- 8To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.
Etymology
From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced native Old English sēċan (“to visit”) and sōcn (“a visit”). The noun is from French visite or the verb. Doublet of visite.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ivsit,viist,visitt,vissit,visti,vsiit,vvisit
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of visit - 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 "visit"?
What does "visit" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "visit"?
How do you pronounce "visit"?
What is the origin of the word "visit"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “visit”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-I-S-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvɪzɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Vit” - see the side-by-side comparison. visit vs Vit
- 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.