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” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #332 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#332
frequency rank, English
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 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.

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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for war is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɔː/. Corpus data places it at rank #332 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

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.

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.

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.

Using “war”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is W-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /wɔː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “we” - see the side-by-side comparison. war vs we
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list