whisker
/ʍɪskə(ɹ)/
"whisker" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“whisker” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #49,721 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #49,721
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - That part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, usually of the male, or upon the chin, or upon both.
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 | whisker |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʍɪskə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #49,721 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “whisker” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for whisker is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ʍɪskə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #49,721 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 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 whisker, with forms such as "hwisker", "whhisker", and "whikser". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "wiser", "whisky", "wicker", 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 wisker, whisk (verb) + -er. The correct English form is whisker, spelled W-H-I-S-K-E-R.
Definition
- 1That part of the beard which grows upon the sides of the face, usually of the male, or upon the chin, or upon both.
- 2A hair of the beard.
- 3One of the long, projecting hairs growing at the sides of the mouth of a cat, or other animal.
- 4The (very small) distance between two things.
- 5Spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.
- 6A graphic element that shows the maxima and minima in a box plot.
- 7One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
- 8A small tendril that forms on metal.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English wisker, whisk (verb) + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hwisker,whhisker,whikser,whisekr,whiskerr,whiskker,whiskre,whissker,whsiker,wihsker,wwhisker
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of whisker - 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
How do you spell "whisker"?
What does "whisker" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "whisker"?
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Using “whisker”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-H-I-S-K-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ʍɪskə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wiser” - see the side-by-side comparison. whisker vs wiser
- 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.