capital punishment

noun

"capital-punishment" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“capital punishment” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
18
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The practice of putting a person to death as a punishment for a crime.

Corpus desk

Index EN-capital-punishment · capital punishment · English

capital punishment · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 18 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for capital punishment
PropertyValue
Headwordcapital punishment
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “capital punishment” in English

capital punishmentranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

capital punishment is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The practice of putting a person to death as a punishment for a crime.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for capital punishment, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the original meaning of capital (“relating to the head”); originally referring to executions by beheading or decapitating. The correct English form is capital punishment, spelled C-A-P-I-T-A-L- -P-U-N-I-S-H-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The practice of putting a person to death as a punishment for a crime.

Etymology

From the original meaning of capital (“relating to the head”); originally referring to executions by beheading or decapitating.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "capital punishment"?
"capital punishment" is spelled C-A-P-I-T-A-L- -P-U-N-I-S-H-M-E-N-T.
What does "capital punishment" mean?
As a noun, "capital punishment" means: The practice of putting a person to death as a punishment for a crime.
What is the origin of the word "capital punishment"?
From the original meaning of capital (“relating to the head”); originally referring to executions by beheading or decapitating. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list