world
/wɜːld/
"world" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“world” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #136. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #136
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in.
Corpus desk
Index EN-world · world · English
world · rank #136 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #136
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH say
Nearest frequency peer: say (-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 “world”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- those
those
99,868 corpus weight
- life
life
99,867 corpus weight
- say
say
99,866 corpus weight
- world
world
99,865 corpus weight
- down
down
99,864 corpus weight
- great
great
99,863 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “world” 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 | world |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɜːld/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #136 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “world” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around world (IPA /wɜːld/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #136 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 18 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for world, with forms such as "owrld", "wolrd", and "wordl". 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, "worn", "worm", "wort", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Germanic *weraz Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *h₂életi Proto-Germanic *alaną Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Germanic *-þiz Proto-Germanic *aldiz Proto-Germanic *… The correct English form is world, spelled W-O-R-L-D.
Definition
- 1The subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in.
- 2The subjective human experience, regarded individually.
- 3A majority of people.
- 4The Universe.
- 5The Earth, especially in a geopolitical or cultural context, or as the physical planet.
- 6Any of several possible scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
- 7(Several) alternative scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
- 8A planet, especially one which is inhabited or inhabitable.
- 9A planet, especially one which is inhabited or inhabitable.
- 10A very large extent of country.
- 11In various mythologies, cosmologies, etc., one of a number of separate realms or regions having different characteristics and occupied by different types of inhabitants.
- 12A fictional realm, such as a planet, containing one or multiple societies of beings, especially intelligent ones.
- 13An individual or group perspective or social setting.
- 14The part of an operating system distributed with the kernel, consisting of the shell and other programs.
- 15A subdivision of a game, consisting of a series of stages or levels that usually share a similar environment or theme.
- 16The twenty-second trump or major arcana card of the tarot.
- 17A great amount, a lot.
- 18Age, era.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how world appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In retrospect, the process of economic globalization has meant the end of the world as we knew it.
There will always be lovers, till the world’s end.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Germanic *weraz Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *h₂életi Proto-Germanic *alaną Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Germanic *-þiz Proto-Germanic *aldiz Proto-Germanic *weraldiz Proto-West Germanic *weraldi Old English weorold Middle English world English world From Middle English world, from Old English weorold (“world”), from Proto-West Germanic *weraldi, from Proto-Germanic *weraldiz (“lifetime, human existence, world”, literally “age/era of man”), equivalent to wer (“man”) + eld (“age”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English mounde (“world”), from Old French monde, munde (“world”). Cognates Cognate with Scots warld (“world”), North Frisian Wārel, wäält, wråål (“world”), Saterland Frisian Waareld (“world”), West Frisian wrâld (“world”), Afrikaans wêreld (“world”), Bavarian Wöd (“world”), Dutch wereld (“world”), German, Luxembourgish Welt (“world”), German Low German Wereld, Werld (“world”), Vilamovian wełt (“world”), Yiddish וועלט (velt, “world”), Danish verden (“world”), Elfdalian wärd (“world”), Faroese verð, verøld (“world”), Icelandic veröld (“world”), Norn vrildan (“the earth”), Norwegian Bokmål verd, verden (“(the) world”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“world”), Swedish värld (“world”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- owrld
- wolrd
- wordl
- worldd
- worlld
- worrld
- wrold
- wworld
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of world - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "world"?
What does "world" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "world"?
How do you pronounce "world"?
What is the origin of the word "world"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "world", 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 "world". Here's where to go from here.
- "world" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "worn". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #136 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.