week

/wiːk/

//wiːk// noun

"week" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“week” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #251. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#251
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any period of seven consecutive days.

Corpus desk

Index EN-week · week · English

week · rank #251 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #251
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH times

Nearest frequency peer: times (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “week”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “week” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

week vs wet
50% similar
week vs WWE
0% similar
week vs Wes
25% similar

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

Key facts for week
PropertyValue
Headwordweek
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wiːk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#251
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “week”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).weeklands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “times” (#250), “system” (#249), “already” (#253). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “week” is #251. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around week (IPA /wiːk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #251 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for week, with forms such as "ewek", "weekk", and "wek". 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, "wet", "WWE", "Wes", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wyke, weke, from Old English wiċe, wucu (“week”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg-, *weyk- (“to bend, curve”). Related to Proto-Germanic *wīkaną (“to bend, yiel… The correct English form is week, spelled W-E-E-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any period of seven consecutive days.
  2. 2
    A period of seven days beginning with Sunday or Monday.
  3. 3
    A period of five days beginning with Monday.
  4. 4
    A subdivision of the month into longer periods of work days punctuated by shorter weekend periods of days for markets, rest, or religious observation such as a sabbath.
  5. 5
    A date seven days after (sometimes before) the specified day.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Holonyms: megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
  2. Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond < minute < hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day, weekday < weekend

Etymology

From Middle English wyke, weke, from Old English wiċe, wucu (“week”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg-, *weyk- (“to bend, curve”). Related to Proto-Germanic *wīkaną (“to bend, yield, cease”). Cognates Cognate with Scots ouk, oulk (“week”), Yola wick, wik (“week”), North Frisian waag, Week, weg (“week”), Saterland Frisian Wiek, Wíek (“week”), West Frisian wike (“week”), Bavarian Wochn (“week”), Cimbrian boch, bòcha (“week”), Dutch week (“week”), German Woche (“week”), German Low German Week (“week”), Limburgish waek, Wéëk (“week”), Luxembourgish Woch (“week”), Mòcheno boch (“week”), Vilamovian woch (“week”), Yiddish וואָך (vokh, “week”), Danish uge (“week”), Elfdalian wiku, wikå (“week”), Faroese and Icelandic vika (“week”), Jamtish vuku (“week”), Norwegian Bokmål uke (“week”), Norwegian Nynorsk veke, vika, viku, vukku, vuku (“week”), Scanian uga (“week”), Swedish vecka (“week”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “sequence; week”); also Cornish gwigh (“periwinkles, whelks”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“alteration, turn; time”), Ancient Greek εἴκω (eíkō, “to yield”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Northern Kurdish avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, hurl, throw”), Persian آویختَن (âvixtan, “to hang, suspend”), بیختن (bēxtan / bixtan, “to sieve, sift”). Related also to Old English wīcan (“to yield, give way”), English weak and wick.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ewek
  • weekk
  • wek
  • weke
  • wweek

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of week - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ewek2weekk1wek1weke2wweek1
Edit distance from "week"

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 "week"?
"week" is spelled W-E-E-K. The IPA pronunciation is /wiːk/.
What does "week" mean?
As a noun, "week" means: Any period of seven consecutive days.
What words are commonly confused with "week"?
"week" is commonly confused with "wet", "WWE", "Wes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "week"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "week" is /wiːk/. 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 "week"?
From Middle English wyke, weke, from Old English wiċe, wucu (“week”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikā, from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg-, *weyk- (“to bend, curve”). Related to Proto-Germanic *wīkaną (“to ... 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 "week", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list