admiral
/ˈædməɹəl/
"admiral" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“admiral” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,092 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,092
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.
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 | admiral |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈædməɹəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #7,092 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “admiral” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for admiral is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈædməɹəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,092 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 admiral, with forms such as "addmiral", "adimral", and "admiarl". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "Amira", "admire", "amoral", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English admiral etc., from Anglo-Norman and Old French admiral etc., from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus, and admiralius, from irregular modification of amiralis etc. under the influence of the prefix ad- and particularly admiror (“to admi… The correct English form is admiral, spelled A-D-M-I-R-A-L.
Definition
- 1The commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.
- 2The appointed commander of a navy, regardless of formal title.
- 3A high rank in the British and American Navies, NATO grade OF-9, equivalent ranks in other navies, in coast guards, etc.
- 4The commander of a fishing or merchant fleet, particularly (historical, Canada) a captain granted special privileges in exchange for bringing the first ship of a given fishing season to certain harbors in Newfoundland.
- 5Any of several species of nymphalid butterflies of the genera Kaniska, Limenitis and Vanessa.
- 6The shell of the Conus ammiralis; the cone shells of various other species displaying similarly intricate banding.
- 7Synonym of flagship: an admiral's ship in a fleet, the command or largest ship in a naval or commercial fleet.
- 8Synonym of emir, a Muslim commander or prince.
- 9Any of several varieties of pear, the trees which produce them.
Etymology
From Middle English admiral etc., from Anglo-Norman and Old French admiral etc., from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus, and admiralius, from irregular modification of amiralis etc. under the influence of the prefix ad- and particularly admiror (“to admire, respect”), from Arabic أَمِير (ʔamīr, “commander”) + -alis (“-al”). The ending is frequently but mistakenly folk etymologized to derive from the article ال (al-), particularly in Arabic أَمِير اَلبَحْر (ʔamīr al-baḥr, “commander of the sea”), first attested as a Fatimid office, or in Arabic أَمِير الْمُؤْمِنِين (ʔamīr al-muʔminīn, “Commander of the Believers, caliph”). It seems instead to have been borrowed from modification of only the first term in Arabic أَمِير الْأُمَرَاء (ʔamīr al-ʔumarāʔ, “emir of emirs, commander-in-chief”) as used as a title for important commanders in Norman Sicily in the mid-12th century. First attested as an English rank in reference to Gervase Alard of Winchelsea as "admiral of the fleet of the Cinque Ports". Doublet of emir, amir, Amir, and amira. Etymology tree Arabic أَمِير (ʔamīr) Proto-Italic *-ālis Medieval Latin -alis ▲ Latin admīrorinflu. Medieval Latin admiralisder. Old French admiralder. Middle English admiral English admiral
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: addmiral,adimral,admiarl,admirall,admirla,admirral,admmiral,admrial,amdiral,damiral
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of admiral - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “admiral”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-D-M-I-R-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈædməɹəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Amira” - see the side-by-side comparison. admiral vs Amira
- 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.