whisky
/ˈwɪski/
"whisky" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“whisky” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,530. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,530
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 7
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of whiskey, an alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain, usually aged in oak barrels, (particularly) Scotch; a drink of this liquor.
Corpus desk
Index EN-whisky · whisky · English
whisky · rank #12,530 · 10 variants · 7 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,530
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH warp
Nearest frequency peer: warp (-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 “whisky”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- vomiting
vomiting
87,474 corpus weight
- warden
warden
87,473 corpus weight
- warp
warp
87,472 corpus weight
- whisky
whisky
87,471 corpus weight
- who'd
who'd
87,470 corpus weight
- winters
winters
87,469 corpus weight
What this shows “whisky” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | whisky |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɪski/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #12,530 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “whisky”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around whisky (IPA /ˈwɪski/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,530 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Alternative form of whiskey, an alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain, usually aged in oak barrels, (particularly) Scotch; a drink of this liquor.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for whisky, with forms such as "hwisky", "whhisky", and "whiksy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "whitey", "Whitby", "whisk", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Variant of usque, abbreviation of usquebaugh (compare obsolete whiskybae), from Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha (“water of life”), calque of Medieval Latin aqua vitae. Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, and water of life from the same source. The correct English form is whisky, spelled W-H-I-S-K-Y.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of whiskey, an alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain, usually aged in oak barrels, (particularly) Scotch; a drink of this liquor.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how whisky appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
Thereafter the route of the original line was followed to the harbour, beyond which an extension, a third of a mile long, led to the salt pans and a newly constructed inn, the "Stafford Arms", where Lady Stafford tried unsuccessfully to educate the locals to drink beer instead of a strong whisky.
Etymology
Variant of usque, abbreviation of usquebaugh (compare obsolete whiskybae), from Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha (“water of life”), calque of Medieval Latin aqua vitae. Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, and water of life from the same source.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hwisky
- whhisky
- whiksy
- whiskky
- whiskyy
- whissky
- whisyk
- whsiky
- wihsky
- wwhisky
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of whisky - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "whisky", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).