banshee
/bænˈʃiː/
"banshee" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“banshee” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #36,446 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #36,446
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
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 | banshee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /bænˈʃiː/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #36,446 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “banshee” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for banshee is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bænˈʃiː/. Corpus data places it at rank #36,446 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 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 banshee, with forms such as "abnshee", "banhsee", and "bannshee". 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, "bashed", "banished", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771. The correct English form is banshee, spelled B-A-N-S-H-E-E.
Definition
- 1A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
- 2A noisy or ill-tempered woman.
Etymology
Borrowed from Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abnshee,banhsee,bannshee,bansehe,banshe,banshhee,bansshee,basnhee,bbanshee,bnashee
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of banshee - 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
How do you spell "banshee"?
What does "banshee" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "banshee"?
How do you pronounce "banshee"?
What is the origin of the word "banshee"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “banshee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-N-S-H-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /bænˈʃiː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bashed” - see the side-by-side comparison. banshee vs bashed
- 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.