Alec
/ˈælɪk/
"alec" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Alec” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #12,003) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #12,003
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek, of Scottish origin.
Corpus desk
Index EN-alec · Alec · English
Alec · rank #12,003 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,003
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH acknowledging
Nearest frequency peer: acknowledging (-1 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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Alec”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Yi
Yi
88,002 corpus weight
- Zoe
Zoe
88,001 corpus weight
- acknowledgi…
acknowledging
87,999 corpus weight
- Alec
Alec
87,998 corpus weight
- anthropology
anthropology
87,997 corpus weight
- artery
artery
87,995 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Alec” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | Alec |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈælɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #12,003 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Alec” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Alec is neighbouring look-alikes ("are", "all", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced /ˈælɪk/. Frequency #12,003 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Gloss: "A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek, of Scottish origin.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for Alec, with forms such as "aelc", "alecc", and "allec". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "are", "all", "ate", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of Alexander. The correct English form is Alec, spelled A-L-E-C.
Definition
- 1A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek, of Scottish origin.
Etymology
Clipping of Alexander.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aelc
- alecc
- allec
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Alec - 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
How do you spell "Alec"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Alec", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "Alec". Here's where to go from here.
- "Alec" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "are". View pair
- 3 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #12,003 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.