wish
/wɪʃ/
"wish" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wish” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #685 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #685
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
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 | wish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #685 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wish” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wish is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #685 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 4 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 wish, with forms such as "iwsh", "wihs", and "wishh". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "WS", "wit", "wiz", 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 wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Sat… The correct English form is wish, spelled W-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
- 2An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.
- 3The thing desired or longed for.
- 4A water meadow.
Etymology
From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Luxembourgish wënschen (“to wish”), Yiddish ווינטשן (vintshn, “to wish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål ønske (“to wish”), Faroese ynskja (“to wish, to desire”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk ønskja, ønskje, ønska, ønske, ynskja, ynskje (“to wish, to desire”), Swedish önska (“to wish”). Via PIE cognate with Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”), English wonder.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwsh,wihs,wishh,wissh,wsih,wwish
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wish - 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
How do you spell "wish"?
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Using “wish”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-I-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɪʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “WS” - see the side-by-side comparison. wish vs WS
- 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.