wasp
/wɒsp/
"wasp" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wasp” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,459 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,459
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
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 | wasp |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɒsp/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #18,459 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wasp” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wasp is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɒsp/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,459 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for wasp, with forms such as "awsp", "waps", and "waspp". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "WS", "way", "wax", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ Proto-Germanic *wapsō Proto-West Germanic *wapsu Old English wæps Middle English wasp English wasp Inherited from Middle English wasp, waspe, waps, from Old English wæsp, wæps, from Pro… The correct English form is wasp, spelled W-A-S-P.
Definition
- 1Any of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.
- 2Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
- 3Any of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).
- 4A person who behaves in an angry or insolent way, hence waspishly.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ Proto-Germanic *wapsō Proto-West Germanic *wapsu Old English wæps Middle English wasp English wasp Inherited from Middle English wasp, waspe, waps, from Old English wæsp, wæps, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō, from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“to weave”), referring to the insect's woven nests. Compare Dutch wesp, German Wespe, Danish hveps. Metathesis of /s/ and /p/ was both a process of some generality within English (compare grasp from Middle English grapsen, and—affecting other plosives—ascian ~ acsian (“to ask”)) and common in the reflexes of *wóps-eh₂ (“wasp”) in particular, as the aforementioned Germanic cognates (and non-Germanic cognates like Latin vespa) evince.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awsp,waps,waspp,wassp,wwasp
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wasp - 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
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Using “wasp”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-S-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɒsp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “WS” - see the side-by-side comparison. wasp vs WS
- 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.