weighty
/ˈweɪti/
"weighty" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“weighty” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,158 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #35,158
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Having a lot of weight; heavy.
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 | weighty |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈweɪti/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #35,158 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “weighty” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for weighty is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈweɪti/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,158 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for weighty, with forms such as "ewighty", "wegihty", and "weigghty". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "wight", "wright", "weigh", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English weighti, weghti, wighti, equivalent to weight + -y. Cognate with Scots weichty, wechty, wichty, Saterland Frisian wichtich, West Frisian wichtich, Dutch wichtig, gewichtig, German wichtig, Danish vigtig, Swedish viktig. Compare typologic… The correct English form is weighty, spelled W-E-I-G-H-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Having a lot of weight; heavy.
- 2Important; serious; not trivial or petty.
- 3Rigorous; severe; afflictive.
Etymology
From Middle English weighti, weghti, wighti, equivalent to weight + -y. Cognate with Scots weichty, wechty, wichty, Saterland Frisian wichtich, West Frisian wichtich, Dutch wichtig, gewichtig, German wichtig, Danish vigtig, Swedish viktig. Compare typologically Russian ве́ский (véskij), весо́мый (vesómyj) (< вес (ves)). Also compare the same meaning development from cognate (by borrowing) Polish waga (< ... < Proto-Germanic *wēgō): ważny (whence Russian ва́жный (vážnyj)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ewighty,wegihty,weigghty,weighhty,weightty,weightyy,weighyt,weigthy,weihgty,wieghty,wweighty
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of weighty - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “weighty”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-E-I-G-H-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈweɪti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wight” - see the side-by-side comparison. weighty vs wight
- 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.