witness

/ˈwɪtnɪs/

//ˈwɪtnɪs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"witness" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“witness” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,925. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,925
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.

Corpus desk

Index EN-witness · witness · English

witness · rank #2,925 · 9 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,925
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH therapy

Nearest frequency peer: therapy (-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 “witness”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “witness” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

witness vs witnesses
78% similar
witness vs witnessed
78% similar
witness vs wines
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for witness
PropertyValue
Headwordwitness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈwɪtnɪs/
Letters7
Frequency rank#2,925
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “witness”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).witnesslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “therapy” (#2,924), “adopted” (#2,926), “theatre” (#2,923). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “witness” is #2,925. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around witness (IPA /ˈwɪtnɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,925 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for witness, with forms such as "iwtness", "wintess", and "witenss". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "witnesses", "witnessed", "wines", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”). The correct English form is witness, spelled W-I-T-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
  2. 2
    One who sees or has personal knowledge of something.
  3. 3
    Someone called to give evidence in a court.
  4. 4
    One who is called upon to witness an event or action, such as a wedding or the signing of a document.
  5. 5
    Something that serves as evidence; a sign or token.
  6. 6
    A particular version of a text (seen as providing testimony of archetype or other earlier version)
  7. 7
    An additional database server instance used in failover scenarios to decide whether the mirror should take over.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how witness appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She can bear witness, since she was there at the time.
  2. May we, with the warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue him with any further revenge?

Etymology

From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”).

This word in other languages

testimonio(Español)témoignage(Français)Zeugnis(Deutsch)testemunho(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iwtness
  • wintess
  • witenss
  • witnes
  • witnness
  • witnses
  • wittness
  • wtiness
  • wwitness

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of witness - 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.

iwtness2wintess2witenss2witnes1witnness1witnses2wittness1wtiness2
Edit distance from "witness"

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 "witness"?
"witness" is spelled W-I-T-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwɪtnɪs/.
What does "witness" mean?
As a noun, "witness" means: Attestation of a fact or event; testimony.
What words are commonly confused with "witness"?
"witness" is commonly confused with "witnesses", "witnessed", "wines". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "witness"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "witness" is /ˈwɪtnɪs/. 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 "witness"?
From Middle English witnesse, from Old English ġewitnes, equivalent to wit + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch wetenisse (“witness, testimony”), Old High German gewiznessi (“testimony”), Icelandic vitni (“witness”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "witness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

adopted#2,926therapy#2,924theatre#2,923chances#2,930

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

campus9 variantscomedy9 variantscovers9 variantsrising9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list