battery
/ˈbæt.(ə)ɹi/
"battery" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“battery” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,877 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,877
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device used to power electric devices, consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells or (archaically) electrostatic cells.
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 | battery |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæt.(ə)ɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,877 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “battery” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for battery is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbæt.(ə)ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,877 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for battery, with forms such as "abttery", "batery", and "batetry". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "batty", "better", "butter", 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 Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (“action of beating”), from batre (“beat”), from Latin battuō (“beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of batterie. By surface analysis, batter + -y. The electrical sense was coined by American polymath B… The correct English form is battery, spelled B-A-T-T-E-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A device used to power electric devices, consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells or (archaically) electrostatic cells.
- 2A device used to power electric devices, consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells or (archaically) electrostatic cells.
- 3The energy stored in such a device.
- 4The infliction of unlawful physical violence on a person, legally distinguished from assault, which involves the threat of impending violence.
- 5A coordinated group of artillery weapons, with any of various numbers of guns.
- 6A coordinated group of artillery weapons, with any of various numbers of guns.
- 7An elevated platform on which cannon could be placed.
- 8An array of similar things.
- 9A set of small cages where hens are kept for the purpose of farming their eggs.
- 10The catcher and the pitcher together
- 11Two or more pieces working together on the same rank, file, or diagonal
- 12A marching percussion ensemble; the section of the drumline that marches on the field during a performance.
- 13The state of a firearm or cannon when it is possible to be fired.
- 14Apparatus for preparing or serving meals.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (“action of beating”), from batre (“beat”), from Latin battuō (“beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of batterie. By surface analysis, batter + -y. The electrical sense was coined by American polymath Benjamin Franklin by analogy with a military battery that his series of Leyden jars resembled.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abttery,batery,batetry,batterry,batteryy,batteyr,battrey,bbattery,btatery
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of battery - 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 “battery”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-T-T-E-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbæt.(ə)ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “batty” - see the side-by-side comparison. battery vs batty
- 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.