baptism
/ˈbæptɪzəm/
"baptism" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“baptism” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,861 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,861
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Christian sacrament, by which one is received into a church and sometimes given a name, generally involving the candidate to be anointed with or submerged in water.
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 | baptism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæptɪzəm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #13,861 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “baptism” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for baptism is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbæptɪzəm/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,861 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 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for baptism, with forms such as "abptism", "bapitsm", and "bapptism". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "Baptist", "baptize", "Baptiste", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bapteme, baptesme, from Old French batesme or bapteme, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin baptisma, from Ancient Greek βάπτισμα (báptisma, “dipping, baptism”), from βαπτίζω (baptízō, “I dip in liquid”). Displaced native Old English fu… The correct English form is baptism, spelled B-A-P-T-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A Christian sacrament, by which one is received into a church and sometimes given a name, generally involving the candidate to be anointed with or submerged in water.
- 2A similar ceremony of initiation, purification or naming.
- 3The moment at which an object is first assigned a proper name.
Etymology
From Middle English bapteme, baptesme, from Old French batesme or bapteme, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin baptisma, from Ancient Greek βάπτισμα (báptisma, “dipping, baptism”), from βαπτίζω (baptízō, “I dip in liquid”). Displaced native Old English fulwiht.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abptism,bapitsm,bapptism,baptims,baptismm,baptissm,baptsim,bapttism,batpism,bbaptism,bpatism
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of baptism - 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 "baptism"?
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Using “baptism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-P-T-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbæptɪzəm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Baptist” - see the side-by-side comparison. baptism vs Baptist
- 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.