alchemy

/ˈælkəmi/

//ˈælkəmi// noun

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

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

The verdict

“alchemy” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #21,988. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#21,988
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China; and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's ...

Corpus desk

Index EN-alchemy · alchemy · English

alchemy · rank #21,988 · 11 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #21,988
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH achievable

Nearest frequency peer: achievable (-2 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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “alchemy”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “alchemy” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the 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).

alchemy vs archery
71% similar

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

Key facts for alchemy
PropertyValue
Headwordalchemy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈælkəmi/
Letters7
Frequency rank#21,988
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “alchemy”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).alchemylands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “achievable” (#21,986), “ambushed” (#21,990), “absurdity” (#21,985). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “alchemy” is #21,988. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around alchemy (IPA /ˈælkəmi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #21,988 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for alchemy, with forms such as "aclhemy", "alcchemy", and "alcehmy". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "archery", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French alkimie, arquemie (French alchimie), from Medieval Latin alchēmia, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “ingot, bar”). Compare Spanish alquimia and Italian a… The correct English form is alchemy, spelled A-L-C-H-E-M-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China; and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's stone able to transmute base metals into gold, eventually developing into chemistry.
  2. 2
    The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
  3. 3
    Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. And yet surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be compared to the husbandman whereof Æsop makes the fable; that, when he died, told his sons that he had left unto them gold buried underground in his vineyard; and they digged over all the ground, and gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of th…
  2. The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.

Etymology

From Old French alkimie, arquemie (French alchimie), from Medieval Latin alchēmia, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “ingot, bar”). Compare Spanish alquimia and Italian alchimia.

This word in other languages

alquimia(Español)alchimie(Français)Alchemie(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aclhemy
  • alcchemy
  • alcehmy
  • alchemmy
  • alchemyy
  • alcheym
  • alchhemy
  • alchmey
  • alhcemy
  • allchemy
  • lachemy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

aclhemy2alcchemy1alcehmy2alchemmy1alchemyy1alcheym2alchhemy1alchmey2
Edit distance from "alchemy"

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 "alchemy"?
"alchemy" is spelled A-L-C-H-E-M-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈælkəmi/.
What does "alchemy" mean?
As a noun, "alchemy" means: The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China; and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's ...
What words are commonly confused with "alchemy"?
"alchemy" is commonly confused with "archery". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "alchemy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alchemy" is /ˈælkəmi/. 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 "alchemy"?
From Old French alkimie, arquemie (French alchimie), from Medieval Latin alchēmia, from Arabic اَلْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from Ancient Greek χυμείᾱ (khumeíā, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “ingot, bar”). Compare Spanish alquimia and... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

Zachary#21,983antigen#21,994Wharton#21,977backlog#22,006

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

whopping11 variantscarousel11 variantssnowfall11 variantssignify11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list