casualty

/ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/

//ˈkaʒʊ.əlti// noun

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

"casualty" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“casualty” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,739. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,739
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.

Corpus desk

Index EN-casualty · casualty · English

casualty · rank #12,739 · 12 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,739
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Carnegie

Nearest frequency peer: Carnegie (-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 “casualty”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “casualty” 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).

casualty vs casual
75% similar
casualty vs casually
88% similar

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

Key facts for casualty
PropertyValue
Headwordcasualty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/
Letters8
Frequency rank#12,739
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “casualty”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).casualtylands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Carnegie” (#12,738), “cavity” (#12,740), “caller” (#12,737). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “casualty” is #12,739. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around casualty (IPA /ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,739 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for casualty, with forms such as "acsualty", "casaulty", and "cassualty". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "casual", "casually", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual en… The correct English form is casualty, spelled C-A-S-U-A-L-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.
  2. 2
    A person suffering from injuries or who has been killed due to an accident or through an act of violence.
  3. 3
    Specifically, a person who has been killed (not only injured) due to an accident or through an act of violence; a fatality.
  4. 4
    A person in military service who becomes unavailable for duty, for any reason (notably death, injury, illness, capture, or desertion).
  5. 5
    Clipping of casualty department: the accident and emergency department of a hospital providing immediate treatment.
  6. 6
    An incidental charge or payment.
  7. 7
    Someone or something adversely affected by a decision, event or situation.
  8. 8
    Chance nature; randomness.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. 1756, Samuel Johnson, “The Life of Sir Thomas Browne” in Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, p. xx, The course of his education was like that of others, such as put him little in the way of extraordinary casualties.
  2. Among recent casualties is the S.B.B.'s branch from Nyon to Divonne-les-Bains, just across the French frontier, closed to all traffic at the commencement of the winter service.

Etymology

From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.

Synonyms

fortuneluckemergencyemergency roomemergency departmentemergency wardE. R.E.R.ERcasualty departmentcasualty wardaccident and emergencyA&E

This word in other languages

baja(Español)accident(Français)Unfall(Deutsch)baixa(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acsualty
  • casaulty
  • cassualty
  • casuallty
  • casualtty
  • casualtyy
  • casualyt
  • casuatly
  • casulaty
  • causalty
  • ccasualty
  • csaualty

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

acsualty2casaulty2cassualty1casuallty1casualtty1casualtyy1casualyt2casuatly2
Edit distance from "casualty"

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 "casualty"?
"casualty" is spelled C-A-S-U-A-L-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/.
What does "casualty" mean?
As a noun, "casualty" means: Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.
What words are commonly confused with "casualty"?
"casualty" is commonly confused with "casual", "casually". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "casualty"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "casualty" is /ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/. 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 "casualty"?
From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in ... 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 "casualty", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Carnegie#12,738affinity#12,723adaptive#12,721doubling#12,761

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

differing12 variantsexquisite12 variantsfreshly12 variantshandicap12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list