witch
/wɪt͡ʃ/
"witch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“witch” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,019. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,019
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
Corpus desk
Index EN-witch · witch · English
witch · rank #6,019 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #6,019
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH wasting
Nearest frequency peer: wasting (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “witch”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- voter
voter
93,985 corpus weight
- Warner
Warner
93,984 corpus weight
- wasting
wasting
93,983 corpus weight
- witch
witch
93,982 corpus weight
- advantages
advantages
93,981 corpus weight
- ally
ally
93,980 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “witch” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | witch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɪt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,019 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “witch” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around witch (IPA /wɪt͡ʃ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,019 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for witch, with forms such as "iwtch", "wicth", and "witcch". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "WTH", "WTC", "with", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female), sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer, warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“t… The correct English form is witch, spelled W-I-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1A person (now usually particularly a woman) who uses magical or similar supernatural powers to influence or predict events.
- 2A woman who follows Wicca or similar New Age pagan beliefs.
- 3An ugly or unpleasant woman.
- 4One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.
- 5One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.
- 6A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.
- 7A storm petrel.
- 8Any of a number of flatfish of species:
- 9Any of a number of flatfish of species:
- 10Any of a number of flatfish of species:
- 11An Indomalayan butterfly, of Araotes lapithis, of the family Lycaenidae.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how witch appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He cannot abide the old woman of Brentford; he swears she's a witch.
It was easy to understand that they were witches, who had turned themselves into ravens.
Etymology
The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female), sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer, warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb derives from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- iwtch
- wicth
- witcch
- witchh
- withc
- wittch
- wtich
- wwitch
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of witch - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "witch", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "witch". Here's where to go from here.
- "witch" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "WTH". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #6,019 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "W" letter cohort. W–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.