wealth
/wɛlθ/
"wealth" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wealth” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,974 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,974
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions.
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 | wealth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɛlθ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,974 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wealth” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wealth is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɛlθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,974 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for wealth, with forms such as "ewalth", "waelth", and "wealht". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "Welt", "Welsh", "wrath", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English welth, welthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *welþu, from Proto-West Germanic *waliþu (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”… The correct English form is wealth, spelled W-E-A-L-T-H.
Definition
- 1Riches; a great amount of valuable assets or material possessions.
- 2A great amount; an abundance or plenty.
- 3Prosperity; well-being; happiness.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English welth, welthe (“happiness, prosperity”), from Old English *welþ, *welþu, from Proto-West Germanic *waliþu (“wealth”). Alternatively, possibly an alteration (due to similar words in -th: compare helth (“health”), derth (“dearth”)) of wele (“wealth, well-being, weal”), from Old English wela (“wealth, prosperity”), from Proto-Germanic *walô (“well-being, prosperity”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“good, best”); equivalent to weal + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Dutch weelde (“wealth”), Low German weelde (“wealth”), Old High German welida, welitha (“wealth”). Related also to German Wohl (“welfare, well-being, weal”), Danish vel (“weal, welfare”), Swedish väl (“well-being, weal”). More at weal, well.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ewalth,waelth,wealht,weallth,wealthh,wealtth,weatlh,welath,wwealth
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wealth - 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 “wealth”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-E-A-L-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɛlθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Welt” - see the side-by-side comparison. wealth vs Welt
- 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.