war

/wɔː/

//wɔː// noun

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

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

The verdict

“war” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #332) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#332
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.

Corpus desk

Index EN-war · war · English

war · rank #332 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #332
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH together

Nearest frequency peer: together (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “war”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “war” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

war vs we
33% similar
war vs wi
33% similar
war vs Wu
0% similar

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

Key facts for war
PropertyValue
Headwordwar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wɔː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#332
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “war” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for war is neighbouring look-alikes ("we", "wi", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /wɔː/. Frequency #332 among 1,759 “W” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for war, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "we", "wi", "Wu", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre /wyrre (“armed conflict”), from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French guerre /werre (compare modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”), from Proto-Indo… The correct English form is war, spelled W-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
  2. 2
    A particular conflict of this kind.
  3. 3
    Protracted armed conflict against irregular forces, particularly groups considered terrorists.
  4. 4
    Any protracted conflict, particularly
  5. 5
    Any protracted conflict, particularly
  6. 6
    Any protracted conflict, particularly
  7. 7
    Any protracted conflict, particularly
  8. 8
    Any protracted conflict, particularly
  9. 9
    An assembly of weapons; instruments of war.
  10. 10
    Armed forces.
  11. 11
    Any of a family of card games where all cards are dealt at the beginning of play and players attempt to capture them all, typically involving no skill and only serving to kill time.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. holy war; just war; civil war
  2. Come on, let vs deale wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also vnto our enemies, and fight against vs, and so get them vp out of the land.

Etymology

From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre /wyrre (“armed conflict”), from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French guerre /werre (compare modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”), from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to mix up, confuse, beat, thresh”). Gradually displaced native Old English beadu, hild, ġewinn, orleġe, wīġ, and many others as the general term for "war" during the Middle English period. Related to Old High German werra (“confusion, strife, quarrel”) and German verwirren (“to confuse”), but not to Wehr (“defense”). Also related to Old Saxon werran (“to confuse, perplex”), Dutch war (“confusion, disarray”), West Frisian war (“confusion”), Old English wyrsa, wiersa (“worse”), Old Norse verri (“worse, orig. confounded, mixed up”), Italian guerra (“war”). There may be a connection with worse and wurst.

Antonyms

peace

This word in other languages

guerra(Español)guerre(Français)Krieg(Deutsch)guerra(Português)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "war"?
"war" is spelled W-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /wɔː/.
What does "war" mean?
As a noun, "war" means: Organized, large-scale, armed conflict between countries or between national, ethnic, or other sizeable groups, usually but not always involving active engagement of military forces.
What words are commonly confused with "war"?
"war" is commonly confused with "we", "wi", "Wu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "war"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "war" is /wɔː/. 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 "war"?
From Middle English werre, from Late Old English werre /wyrre (“armed conflict”), from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French guerre /werre (compare modern French guerre), from Medieval Latin werra, from Frankish *werru (“confusion; quarrel”), from ... 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 "war", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

car#334law#329per#339run#309

What to do next

You've looked up "war". Here's where to go from here.

  • "war" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "we". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #332 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "W" letter cohort. W–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list