academy

/əˈkæd.ə.mi/

//əˈkæd.ə.mi// noun

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

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

The verdict

“academy” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,605 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,605
frequency rank, English
7
letters
10
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The garden where Plato taught.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

academy vs academic
75% similar
academy vs academia
75% similar

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

Key facts for academy
PropertyValue
Headwordacademy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈkæd.ə.mi/
Letters7
Frequency rank#2,605
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “academy” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for academy is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈkæd.ə.mi/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,605 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for academy, with forms such as "aacdemy", "acaddemy", and "academmy". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "academic", "academia", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English Achademia, achademy, Achademye, achadomye, from Classical Latin Acadēmī̆a /acadēmī̆a, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner… The correct English form is academy, spelled A-C-A-D-E-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The garden where Plato taught.
  2. 2
    Plato's philosophical system based on skepticism; Plato's followers.
  3. 3
    An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university; typically a private school.
  4. 4
    A school or place of training in which some special art is taught.
  5. 5
    A society of learned people united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science.
  6. 6
    The knowledge disseminated in an Academy.
  7. 7
    Academia.
  8. 8
    A body of established opinion in a particular field, regarded as authoritative.
  9. 9
    A school directly funded by central government, independent of local control; a charter school.

Etymology

From Middle English Achademia, achademy, Achademye, achadomye, from Classical Latin Acadēmī̆a /acadēmī̆a, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate, the Attic hero Akademos. Doublet of academe, academia, and Akademeia.

Synonyms

learned society

This word in other languages

academia(Español)académie(Français)Akademie(Deutsch)academia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: aacdemy,acaddemy,academmy,academyy,acadeym,acadmey,acaedmy,accademy,acdaemy,caademy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

aacdemy2acaddemy1academmy1academyy1acadeym2acadmey2acaedmy2accademy1
Edit distance from "academy"

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 "academy"?
"academy" is spelled A-C-A-D-E-M-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈkæd.ə.mi/.
What does "academy" mean?
As a noun, "academy" means: The garden where Plato taught.
What words are commonly confused with "academy"?
"academy" is commonly confused with "academic", "academia". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "academy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "academy" is /əˈkæd.ə.mi/. 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 "academy"?
From Middle English Achademia, achademy, Achademye, achadomye, from Classical Latin Acadēmī̆a /acadēmī̆a, from Ancient Greek Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía), a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed fo... 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.

Using “academy”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is A-C-A-D-E-M-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /əˈkæd.ə.mi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “academic” - see the side-by-side comparison. academy vs academic
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list