Watergate
/ˈwɑtəɹˌɡeɪt/
"watergate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Watergate” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,414. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #21,414
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An American political scandal (beginning with a burglary in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972) that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Watergate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɑtəɹˌɡeɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #21,414 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Watergate” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around Watergate (IPA /ˈwɑtəɹˌɡeɪt/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #21,414 among 12,113 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "An American political scandal (beginning with a burglary in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972) that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for Watergate, with forms such as "awtergate", "waetrgate", and "wategrate". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the name of the Watergate Hotel; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965. The correct English form is Watergate, spelled W-A-T-E-R-G-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1An American political scandal (beginning with a burglary in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, in 1972) that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
Etymology
From the name of the Watergate Hotel; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- awtergate
- waetrgate
- wategrate
- wateragte
- watergaet
- watergatte
- waterggate
- watergtae
- waterrgate
- watregate
- wattergate
- wtaergate
- wwatergate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Watergate - 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 "Watergate"?
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Using “Watergate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-T-E-R-G-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɑtəɹˌɡeɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.