wood

/wʊd/

//wʊd// noun

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

"wood" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wood” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,743. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,743
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wood · wood · English

wood · rank #1,743 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,743
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH van

Nearest frequency peer: van (-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 “wood”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “wood” 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).

wood vs wow
50% similar
wood vs WTO
0% similar
wood vs wot
50% similar

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

Key facts for wood
PropertyValue
Headwordwood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/wʊd/
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,743
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “wood”

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

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “van” (#1,742), “background” (#1,744), “thinks” (#1,741). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “wood” is #1,743. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around wood (IPA /wʊd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,743 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for wood, with forms such as "owod", "wod", and "wodo". 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, "wow", "WTO", "wot", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English wode, from Old English wudu, widu (“wood, forest, grove; tree; timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *widu, from Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate”). The spelling developed a… The correct English form is wood, spelled W-O-O-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    The substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.
  2. 2
    The wood from a particular species of tree.
  3. 3
    A forested or wooded area.
  4. 4
    Firewood.
  5. 5
    A type of golf club, the head of which was traditionally made of wood.
  6. 6
    A woodwind instrument.
  7. 7
    An erection of the penis.
  8. 8
    Chess pieces.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. This table is made of wood.
  2. There was lots of wood on the beach.

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English wode, from Old English wudu, widu (“wood, forest, grove; tree; timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *widu, from Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate”). The spelling developed as it did in wool. Cognate with Dutch wede (“wood, twig”), Middle High German wite (“wood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish ved (“wood”), Elfdalian wið (“wood, timber”), Faroese, Icelandic viður (“wood”), Norwegian Nynorsk ved (“wood, firewood”), vid (“wide, broad”). Further cognates include Irish fiodh (“a wood, tree”), Irish fid (“tree”) and Welsh gwŷdd (“trees”), from Proto-Celtic *widus (“wood”). Unrelated to Dutch woud (“forest”), German Wald (“forest”) (see English wold).

Synonyms

timberwood lot

This word in other languages

madera(Español)bois(Français)Holz(Deutsch)madeira(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • owod
  • wod
  • wodo
  • woodd
  • wwood

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

owod2wod1wodo2woodd1wwood1
Edit distance from "wood"

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 "wood"?
"wood" is spelled W-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /wʊd/.
What does "wood" mean?
As a noun, "wood" means: The substance making up the central part of the trunk and branches of a tree. Used as a material for construction, to manufacture various items, etc. or as fuel.
What words are commonly confused with "wood"?
"wood" is commonly confused with "wow", "WTO", "wot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wood" is /wʊd/. 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 "wood"?
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English wode, from Old English wudu, widu (“wood, forest, grove; tree; timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *widu, from Proto-Germanic *widuz (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to separate”). The spelling d... 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 "wood", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

shut#1,738copy#1,752dear#1,753dogs#1,754

Similar misspelling depth

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

items5 variantsonto5 variantsrare5 variantsapple5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list