web

/wɛb/

//wɛb// noun

"web" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“web” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,883) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,883
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.

Corpus desk

Index EN-web · web · English

web · rank #1,883 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,883
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH teachers

Nearest frequency peer: teachers (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “web”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “web” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

web vs wi
33% similar
web vs Wu
0% similar
web vs wo
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for web
PropertyValue
Headwordweb
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wɛb/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,883
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “web”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).weblands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “teachers” (#1,882), “wine” (#1,884), “strategy” (#1,881). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “web” is #1,883. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for web is neighbouring look-alikes ("wi", "Wu", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /wɛb/. Frequency #1,883 among 1,759 “W” headwords. 22 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for web in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wi", "Wu", "wo", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *webaną Proto-Germanic *wabją Old English webb Middle English web English web From Middle English web, webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-West Germanic *wabi, from Proto-Germanic *wabją (“we… The correct English form is web, spelled W-E-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.
  2. 2
    Any interconnected set of persons, places, or things, which, when diagrammed, resembles a spider's web.
  3. 3
    The part of a baseball mitt between the forefinger and thumb, the webbing.
  4. 4
    A latticed or woven structure.
  5. 5
    A tall tale with more complexity than a myth or legend.
  6. 6
    A plot or scheme.
  7. 7
    The interconnection between flanges in structural members, increasing the effective lever arm and so the load capacity of the member.
  8. 8
    The thinner vertical section of a railway rail between the top (head) and bottom (foot) of the rail.
  9. 9
    A fold of tissue connecting the toes of certain birds, or of other animals.
  10. 10
    The series of barbs implanted on each side of the shaft of a feather, whether stiff and united together by barbules, as in ordinary feathers, or soft and separate, as in downy feathers.
  11. 11
    A continuous strip of material carried by rollers during processing.
  12. 12
    A long sheet of paper which is fed from a roll into a printing press, as opposed to individual sheets of paper.
  13. 13
    A seventeenth-century unit of Rhenish glass containing 60 bunches.
  14. 14
    A band of webbing used to regulate the extension of the hood of a carriage.
  15. 15
    A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
  16. 16
    A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
  17. 17
    A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
  18. 18
    A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
  19. 19
    A thin metal sheet, plate, or strip, as of lead.
  20. 20
    A major broadcasting network.
  21. 21
    A section of a groin vault, separated by ribs.
  22. 22
    A cataract of the eye.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how web appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The sunlight glistened in the dew on the web.
  2. The time of his birth, his birth-place, his parentage, are all involved in obscurity; and such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators, that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures with which it is interwoven.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *webaną Proto-Germanic *wabją Old English webb Middle English web English web From Middle English web, webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-West Germanic *wabi, from Proto-Germanic *wabją (“web”), from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wab (“web”), North Frisian wääb (“web”), Saterland Frisian Wäb (“web”), West Frisian and Dutch web (“web”), Danish væv (“web”), Faroese vevur (“web”), Icelandic vefur (“web”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk vev (“web”), Swedish väv (“web”); also Cornish goghi (“wasps”), Irish foich, foiche, puch (“wasp”), Welsh gwchi (“drone”), Latin vespa (“wasp”), Ancient Greek ὑφή (huphḗ, “web”), ὑφαίνω (huphaínō, “to weave”) (whence Greek ανυφαίνω (anyfaíno), υφαίνω (yfaíno, “to weave”)), Albanian vej (“to weave”), Latvian lapsene (“wasp”), Lithuanian vapsvà (“wasp”), Old Prussian wobse (“wasp”), Belarusian аса́ (asá, “wasp”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian оса́ (osá, “wasp”), Czech vosa (“wasp”), Polish, Slovak, and Slovene osa (“wasp”), Serbo-Croatian о̀са, òsa (“wasp”), Armenian մոզ (moz, “a kind of fly that bites horses and cattle”), Northern Kurdish moz (“hornet; wasp”), Persian بافتن (bâftan, “to weave”), Tocharian A wäp- (“to weave”), Tocharian B wāp- (“to weave”), Sanskrit उभ्नाति (ubhnāti, “to hurt, kill; to cover; fill”).

This word in other languages

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 "web"?
"web" is spelled W-E-B. The IPA pronunciation is /wɛb/.
What does "web" mean?
As a noun, "web" means: The silken structure which a spider builds using silk secreted from the spinnerets at the caudal tip of its abdomen; a spiderweb.
What words are commonly confused with "web"?
"web" is commonly confused with "wi", "Wu", "wo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "web"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "web" is /wɛb/. 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 "web"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *webaną Proto-Germanic *wabją Old English webb Middle English web English web From Middle English web, webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-West Germanic *wabi, from Proto-Germanic *... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "web", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list