wind
/ˈwɪnd/
"wind" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wind” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,547 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,547
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
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 | wind |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɪnd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wind” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wind is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɪnd/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,547 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for wind, with forms such as "iwnd", "widn", and "windd". 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, "won", "wit", "wis", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (… The correct English form is wind, spelled W-I-N-D.
Definition
- 1Real or perceived movement of atmospheric air usually caused by convection or differences in air pressure.
- 2Air artificially put in motion by any force or action.
- 3The ability to breathe easily.
- 4News of an event, especially by hearsay or gossip.
- 5A tendency or trend.
- 6One of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans; air.
- 7One of the five basic elements in Indian and Japanese models of the Classical elements.
- 8Flatus.
- 9Breath modulated by the respiratory and vocal organs, or by an instrument.
- 10The woodwind section of an orchestra. Occasionally also used to include the brass section.
- 11A woodwind instrument. Occasionally also used to describe a brass instrument.
- 12A direction from which the wind may blow; a point of the compass; especially, one of the cardinal points.
- 13Types of playing-tile in the game of mah-jongg, named after the four winds.
- 14A disease of sheep, in which the intestines are distended with air, or rather affected with a violent inflammation. It occurs immediately after shearing.
- 15Mere breath or talk; empty effort; idle words.
- 16A bird, the dotterel.
- 17The region of the solar plexus, where a blow may paralyze the diaphragm and cause temporary loss of breath or other injury.
- 18Ellipsis of wind power (“source of electricity”)
Etymology
From Middle English wynd, wind, from Old English wind (“wind”), from Proto-West Germanic *wind, from Proto-Germanic *windaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥tos (“wind”), from earlier *h₂wéh₁n̥ts (“wind”), derived from the present participle of *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Cognates Cognate with Yola weend, wyeene (“wind”), North Frisian win, winj (“wind”), Saterland Frisian Wíend (“wind”), West Frisian wyn (“wind”), Alemannic German wend, wind, winn, wénn (“wind”), Bavarian bint, Wind (“wind”), Cimbrian, Mòcheno bint (“wind”), Dutch wind (“wind”), German, German Low German Wind (“wind”), Luxembourgish Wand (“wind”), Yiddish ווינט (vint, “wind”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish vind (“wind”), Faroese, Icelandic vindur (“wind”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐍃 (winds, “wind”), Latin ventus (“wind”), Welsh gwynt (“wind”), Sanskrit वात (vā́ta, “wind”), Russian ве́тер (véter, “wind”), perhaps Albanian bundë (“strong damp wind”). Doublet of athlete, vent, weather and nirvana.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwnd,widn,windd,winnd,wnid,wwind
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wind - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “wind”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɪnd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “won” - see the side-by-side comparison. wind vs won
- 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.