appeal
/əˈpiːl/
"appeal" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“appeal” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,143 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,143
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An application to a superior court or judge for a decision or order by an inferior court or judge to be reviewed and overturned.
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 | appeal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈpiːl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,143 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “appeal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for appeal is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈpiːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,143 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for appeal, with forms such as "apeal", "apepal", and "appael". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "appear", "append", "appears", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English apel, appel (“formal accusation brought in court; a challenge to trial by combat; an appeal to a higher court or authority; plea (for mercy, protection, etc.); pealing (of bells)”) [and other forms], from Old French apel (“a call”) (mode… The correct English form is appeal, spelled A-P-P-E-A-L.
Definition
- 1An application to a superior court or judge for a decision or order by an inferior court or judge to be reviewed and overturned.
- 2The legal document or form by which such an application is made; also, the court case in which the application is argued.
- 3A person's legal right to apply to court for such a review.
- 4An accusation or charge against someone for wrongdoing (especially treason).
- 5A process which formerly might be instituted by one private person against another for some heinous crime demanding punishment for the particular injury suffered, rather than for the offence against the public; an accusation.
- 6At common law, an accusation made against a felon by one of their accomplices (called an approver).
- 7A call to a person or an authority for a decision, help, or proof; an entreaty, an invocation.
- 8A call to a person or an authority for a decision, help, or proof; an entreaty, an invocation.
- 9A resort to some physical means; a recourse.
- 10A power to attract or interest.
- 11a use of a principle or quality for purposes of persuasion.
- 12A summons to defend one's honour in a duel, or one's innocence in a trial by combat; a challenge.
Etymology
From Middle English apel, appel (“formal accusation brought in court; a challenge to trial by combat; an appeal to a higher court or authority; plea (for mercy, protection, etc.); pealing (of bells)”) [and other forms], from Old French apel (“a call”) (modern French appel (“a call; an appeal”)), from apeler (“to call; to call out”), from Latin appellāre (“to address as, call by name; to drive, move to; to land or put ashore”), alternative form adpellāre, from ad- (prefix meaning ‘to; towards’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at; to”)) + pellere (“to drive, impel, push; to hurl, propel; to banish, expel; to eject, thrust out”) + -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to approach”), from *pel- (“to beat; to drive; to push”). Doublet of appel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apeal,apepal,appael,appeall,appela,papeal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of appeal - 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
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Using “appeal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-P-P-E-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈpiːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “appear” - see the side-by-side comparison. appeal vs appear
- 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.