ballot
/ˈbælət/
"ballot" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ballot” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,440 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,440
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
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 | ballot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbælət/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #6,440 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ballot” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ballot is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbælət/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,440 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ballot, with forms such as "abllot", "ballott", and "ballto". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "blot", "balls", "bello", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register … The correct English form is ballot, spelled B-A-L-L-O-T.
Definition
- 1A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
- 2The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
- 3The total of all the votes cast in an election.
- 4A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abllot,ballott,ballto,balolt,balot,bballot,blalot
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ballot - 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 “ballot”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-L-L-O-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbælət/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “blot” - see the side-by-side comparison. ballot vs blot
- 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.