castle

/ˈkɑːsəl/

//ˈkɑːsəl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"castle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“castle” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,282. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,282
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectura...

Corpus desk

Index EN-castle · castle · English

castle · rank #3,282 · 9 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,282
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH bonus

Nearest frequency peer: bonus (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “castle”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “castle” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

castle vs cate
67% similar
castle vs cattle
83% similar
castle vs costly
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for castle
PropertyValue
Headwordcastle
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkɑːsəl/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,282
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “castle”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).castlelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “bonus” (#3,281), “charity” (#3,283), “bars” (#3,280). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “castle” is #3,282. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around castle (IPA /ˈkɑːsəl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,282 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for castle, with forms such as "acstle", "caslte", and "casstle". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "cate", "cattle", "costly", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, a… The correct English form is castle, spelled C-A-S-T-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectural features of medieval castles.
  2. 2
    An instance of castling.
  3. 3
    A rook; a chess piece shaped like a castle tower.
  4. 4
    A defense structure in shogi formed by defensive pieces surrounding the king.
  5. 5
    A close helmet.
  6. 6
    Any strong, imposing, and stately palace or mansion.
  7. 7
    A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant's back.
  8. 8
    The wicket.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how castle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The castle was perhaps a figurative name for a close headpiece deduced from its enclosing and defending the head, as a castle did the whole body; or a corruption from the Old French word casquetel, a small or light helmet.
  2. Nay, he was quite an adept, and was very effective as a change bowler, for in no time he demolished the castle of any batsman.

Etymology

From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and château. Parallel borrowings (from Late Latin or Old French) are Scots castel, castell (“castle”), West Frisian kastiel (“castle”), Dutch kasteel (“castle”), German Kastell (“castle”), Danish kastel (“citadel”), Swedish kastell (“citadel”), Icelandic kastali (“castle”), Welsh castell. The late Old English word was borrowed from biblical Latin castellum which has been translated as town or village. With the sense of castle, from Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French castel (“castle”), itself from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”) (compare modern French château from Old French chastel). If Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”) is from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“hut, shed”), Latin casa (“cottage, hut”) is related. Possibly related also to Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌸𐌾𐍉 (hēþjō, “chamber”), Old English heaþor (“restraint, confinement, enclosure, prison”). See also casino, cassock.

Synonyms

fortress

This word in other languages

castillo(Español)château(Français)Burg(Deutsch)castelo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acstle
  • caslte
  • casstle
  • castel
  • castlle
  • casttle
  • catsle
  • ccastle
  • csatle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of castle - 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.

acstle2caslte2casstle1castel2castlle1casttle1catsle2ccastle1
Edit distance from "castle"

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 "castle"?
"castle" is spelled C-A-S-T-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkɑːsəl/.
What does "castle" mean?
As a noun, "castle" means: A large residential building or compound that is fortified and contains many defences; in previous ages often inhabited by a nobleman or king. Also, a house or mansion with some of the architectura...
What words are commonly confused with "castle"?
"castle" is commonly confused with "cate", "cattle", "costly". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "castle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "castle" is /ˈkɑːsəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "castle"?
From Middle English castle, castel, from late Old English castel, castell (“a town, village”), borrowed from Late Latin castellum (“small camp, fort”), diminutive of Latin castrum (“camp, fort, citadel, stronghold”). Doublet of cashel, castell, ca... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "castle", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

babies#3,279voters#3,270finals#3,298formal#3,300

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

cooking9 variantscurious9 variantsactress9 variantsserver9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list