Placebo
[plaˈt͡seːbo]
The verdict
“Placebo” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #27,000 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,000
- frequency rank, German
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Medikament, das keinen Wirkstoff enthält, aber einem existierenden Medikament vom Aussehen her ähnelt und einen Placeboeffekt, sprich eine suggestive Wirkung, erzielen kann
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 | Placebo |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [plaˈt͡seːbo] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #27,000 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Placebo” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Placebo is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [plaˈt͡seːbo]. Corpus data places it at rank #27,000 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Medikament, das keinen Wirkstoff enthält, aber einem existierenden Medikament vom Aussehen her ähnelt und einen Placeboeffekt, sprich eine suggestive Wirkung, erzielen kann".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for Placebo, with forms such as "lpacebo", "palcebo", and "placbeo". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "places", "place", 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, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Placebo, spelled P-L-A-C-E-B-O.
Definition
- 1Medikament, das keinen Wirkstoff enthält, aber einem existierenden Medikament vom Aussehen her ähnelt und einen Placeboeffekt, sprich eine suggestive Wirkung, erzielen kann
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpacebo,palcebo,placbeo,placcebo,placebbo,placeob,plaecbo,plcaebo,pllacebo,pplacebo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Placebo - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Placebo"?
What does "Placebo" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Placebo"?
How do you pronounce "Placebo"?
What language does "Placebo" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Placebo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is P-L-A-C-E-B-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [plaˈt͡seːbo] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “places” - see the side-by-side comparison. Placebo vs places
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.