allegory
/ˈælɪɡəɹi/
"allegory" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“allegory” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,327 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,327
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The use of symbols which may be interpreted to reveal a hidden, broader message, usually a moral or political one, about real-world issues and occurrences; also, the interpretation of such symbols.
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 | allegory |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈælɪɡəɹi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #26,327 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “allegory” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for allegory is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈælɪɡəɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,327 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 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 allegory, with forms such as "alegory", "alelgory", and "alleggory". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "allegro", "Allegra", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English allegorie (“symbolic interpretation; symbolism; (Christianity) one of the four methods of interpreting the Bible”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Allegorie i… The correct English form is allegory, spelled A-L-L-E-G-O-R-Y.
Definition
- 1The use of symbols which may be interpreted to reveal a hidden, broader message, usually a moral or political one, about real-world issues and occurrences; also, the interpretation of such symbols.
- 2A picture, story, or other form of communication in which one or more characters, events, or places are used to reveal a hidden, broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.
- 3A character or thing which symbolically represents someone or something else; an emblem, a symbol.
- 4A category that retains some of the structure of the category of binary relations between sets, representing a high-level generalization of that category.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English allegorie (“symbolic interpretation; symbolism; (Christianity) one of the four methods of interpreting the Bible”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Allegorie is borrowed from Anglo-Norman allegorie and Middle French allegorie (“narrative with a hidden meaning; such a meaning or its interpretation”) (modern French allégorie), and directly from their etymon Latin allēgoria (“figurative or metaphorical language, allegory; parable”) (whence Late Latin allēgoria (“allegorical interpretation of the Bible”)), from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱ (ăllēgorĭ́ā, “figurative or metaphorical language”), probably from ἀλληγορος (allēgoros, “allegorical”) (though only attested in Byzantine Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ἀλληγορος (Allēgoros) is derived from ᾰ̓́λλος (ắllos, “another; different”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond; other”)) + ἠγόρ- (ēgór-, the imperfect stem of ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly; to say, speak”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming certain inflections of adjectives); and ἀγορεύω (agoreúō) from ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (ăgorā́, “assembly; assembly place; market place; speech”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“flock, herd; to gather”)) + -εύω (-eúō, suffix forming verbs). The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alegory,alelgory,alleggory,allegorry,allegoryy,allegoyr,allegroy,alleogry,allgeory,lalegory
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of allegory - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “allegory”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-L-E-G-O-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈælɪɡəɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “allegro” - see the side-by-side comparison. allegory vs allegro
- 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.