alike
/əˈlaɪk/
"alike" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alike” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,756. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,756
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.
Corpus desk
Index EN-alike · alike · English
alike · rank #5,756 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,756
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH addresses
Nearest frequency peer: addresses (-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 “alike”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- activist
activist
94,248 corpus weight
- addresses
addresses
94,246 corpus weight
- alike
alike
94,245 corpus weight
- applicable
applicable
94,244 corpus weight
- arrow
arrow
94,243 corpus weight
- availability
availability
94,242 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “alike” 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 | alike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈlaɪk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,756 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alike” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around alike (IPA /əˈlaɪk/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,756 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for alike, with forms such as "ailke", "aliek", and "alikke". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "aloe", "Arie", "alone", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms: * Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich. * The borrowed Old N… The correct English form is alike, spelled A-L-I-K-E.
Definition
- 1Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how alike appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Twins are physically alike, that is, similar-looking people on the outside.
The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead.
Etymology
The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms: * Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich. * The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms. * Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”). Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms: * Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe. * Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka. * Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ailke
- aliek
- alikke
- alkie
- allike
- laike
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alike - 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.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "alike"?
What does "alike" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "alike", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "alike". Here's where to go from here.
- "alike" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "aloe". View pair
- 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #5,756 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.