Washington
/ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/
"washington" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Washington” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #892 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #892
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Olympia. Largest city: Seattle.
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 | Washington |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #892 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Washington” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Washington is 10 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/. Corpus data places it at rank #892 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 52 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for Washington, with forms such as "awshington", "wahsington", and "washhington". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Warrington", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Washington (the town in Tyne and Wear, northeast England): probably from the Old English place name Hwæssingatūn (literally “a settlement of the household of *Hwæssa”), from *Hwæssa (a Saxon chieftain's name) + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“homestead, settl… The correct English form is Washington, spelled W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N.
Definition
- 1A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Olympia. Largest city: Seattle.
- 2Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States).
- 3Washington, D.C. (the capital city of the United States).
- 4An English habitational surname from Old English.
- 5An English habitational surname from Old English.
- 6The federal government or administrative authority of the United States. From the capital city of Washington, D.C.
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- 51A male given name transferred from the surname, popular during the first century of American independence, given in honor of George Washington.
- 52Ellipsis of University of Washington.
Etymology
Washington (the town in Tyne and Wear, northeast England): probably from the Old English place name Hwæssingatūn (literally “a settlement of the household of *Hwæssa”), from *Hwæssa (a Saxon chieftain's name) + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“homestead, settlement”). It was attested in 1096 as Wasindone. Hwæssa is of uncertain origin, said to possibly correspond to waþ (“hunt”) + sige (“victory”), or possibly related to hwæte (“wheat”). There are other theories; more on Wikipedia. The surname derives from the town, and most places in the United States are named for George Washington.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awshington,wahsington,washhington,washignton,washinggton,washingotn,washingtno,washingtonn,washingtton,washinngton,washintgon,washnigton,wasihngton,wasshington,wsahington,wwashington
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Washington - 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 “Washington”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Warrington” - see the side-by-side comparison. Washington vs Warrington
- 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.