alpaca
/ælˈpækə/
"alpaca" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alpaca” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #36,856 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #36,856
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sheep-like domesticated animal of the Andes, Vicugna pacos, in the camel family, closely related to the llama, guanaco, and vicuña.
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 | alpaca |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ælˈpækə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #36,856 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alpaca” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for alpaca is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ælˈpækə/. Corpus data places it at rank #36,856 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for alpaca, with forms such as "alapca", "allpaca", and "alpaac". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "alpha", "Alsace", "Alana", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa. The correct English form is alpaca, spelled A-L-P-A-C-A.
Definition
- 1A sheep-like domesticated animal of the Andes, Vicugna pacos, in the camel family, closely related to the llama, guanaco, and vicuña.
- 2Wool from the alpaca, with strong very long fibres and coloring from black to brown to white.
- 3A garment made of such wool.
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish alpaca, from Aymara allpaqa.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alapca,allpaca,alpaac,alpacca,alpcaa,alppaca,aplaca,lapaca
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alpaca - 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 "alpaca"?
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Using “alpaca”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-P-A-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ælˈpækə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “alpha” - see the side-by-side comparison. alpaca vs alpha
- 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.