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with

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "with", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "with" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "with" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

with is aEnglishprep. It means: Against. Pronounced /wɪð/. It ranks #14 in English word frequency. Often confused with wt and WTF.

Key facts for with
PropertyValue
Headwordwith
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPrep
IPA/wɪð/
Letters4
Frequency rank#14
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of with in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for with is 4 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪð/. Corpus data places it at rank #14 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for with, with forms such as "iwth", "wiht", and "withh". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wt", "WTF", "WTO", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, disp… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is with, spelled W-I-T-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Against.
  2. 2
    In the company of; alongside, close to; near to.
  3. 3
    In addition to; as an accessory to.
  4. 4
    Used to add supplemental information, especially to indicate simultaneous happening, or immediate succession or consequence.
  5. 5
    In support of.
  6. 6
    In regard to.
  7. 7
    To denote the accomplishment of cause, means, instrument, etc; – sometimes equivalent to by.
  8. 8
    Using as an instrument; by means of.
  9. 9
    Using as nourishment; more recently replaced by on.
  10. 10
    Having, owning.
  11. 11
    Affected by (a certain emotion or condition).
  12. 12
    Prompted by (a certain emotion).
  13. 13
    In the employment of.
  14. 14
    Considering; taking into account.
  15. 15
    Keeping up with; understanding; following along.

Etymology

From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposition, displacing Middle English mid (“with”), from Old English mid (“with”), from Proto-Germanic *midi; an earlier model of this meaning shift exists in cognate Old Norse við; elsewhere, the converse meaning shift is exemplified by Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩺𐩬 (byn, “between, amid”) spawning Old South Arabian 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “against”) and even likewise frequent reverse meaning 𐩨𐩬 (bn, “from”). The adverb sense is probably a semantic loan from various other Germanic languages, such as German mit, Norwegian med, and Swedish med.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: iwth,wiht,withh,witth,wtih,wwith

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for with

Misspelling Variants of "with"

iwth4wiht4withh5witth5wtih4wwith5
Misspelling Variants of "with"

Frequency rank: #14 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "with"?
"with" is spelled W-I-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is /wɪð/.
What does "with" mean?
As a prep, "with" means: Against.
What words are commonly confused with "with"?
"with" is commonly confused with "wt", "WTF", "WTO". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "with"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "with" is /wɪð/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "with"?
From Middle English with, from Old English wiþ (“against, opposite, toward, with”), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþi, a shortened form of Proto-Germanic *wiþrą (“against”). In Middle English, the word shifted to denote association rather than opposi... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.