categories
/ˈkæt.ɪ.ɡ(ə.)ɹiz/
"categories" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“categories” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,217 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,217
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - plural of category
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 | categories |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkæt.ɪ.ɡ(ə.)ɹiz/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #4,217 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “categories” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for categories is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkæt.ɪ.ɡ(ə.)ɹiz/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,217 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "plural of category".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for categories, with forms such as "actegories", "caetgories", and "categgories". 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, "categorize", "categorized", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is categories, spelled C-A-T-E-G-O-R-I-E-S.
Definition
- 1plural of category
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: actegories,caetgories,categgories,categoires,categoreis,categoriess,categorise,categorries,categroies,cateogries,catgeories,cattegories,ccategories,ctaegories
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of categories - 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
How do you spell "categories"?
What does "categories" mean?
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Using “categories”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-T-E-G-O-R-I-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkæt.ɪ.ɡ(ə.)ɹiz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “categorize” - see the side-by-side comparison. categories vs categorize
- 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.