captain

[…]

/[…]/ verb

The verdict

“captain” has 10 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #7,738. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,738
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein Schiff führen, ein Schiff befehligen

Corpus desk

Index DE-captain · captain · German

captain · rank #7,738 · 10 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,738
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH Cannabis

Nearest frequency peer: Cannabis (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „captain“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „captain“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im 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).

captain vs certain
71% similar
captain vs of
0% similar
captain vs ii
14% similar

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

Key facts for captain
PropertyValue
Headwordcaptain
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[…]
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,738
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „captain“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).captainliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Cannabis“ (#7,737), „challenge“ (#7,739), „Bulgarien“ (#7,736). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „captain“ bei #7,738. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around captain (IPA […]), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,738 among 1,273 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for captain, with forms such as "acptain", "capatin", and "capptain". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "certain", "of", "ii", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is captain, spelled C-A-P-T-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    ein Schiff führen, ein Schiff befehligen
  2. 2
    Mannschaftskapitän sein, ein Team anführen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. "Ferdinand Magellan captained the first fleet of ships to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world."
  2. "Golden Hind ~ described as a pinnace of some 50 tonnes. She was captained by Thomas Fleming and played a brave role in the fight against the Spanish Armada by serving as the English fleet's lookout."

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acptain
  • capatin
  • capptain
  • captainn
  • captani
  • captian
  • capttain
  • catpain
  • ccaptain
  • cpatain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of captain - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

acptain2capatin2capptain1captainn1captani2captian2capttain1catpain2
Edit distance from "captain"

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "captain"?
"captain" is spelled C-A-P-T-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "captain" mean?
As a verb, "captain" means: ein Schiff führen, ein Schiff befehligen
What words are commonly confused with "captain"?
"captain" is commonly confused with "certain", "of", "ii". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "captain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "captain" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "captain" come from?
"captain" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 German words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list