chaplain
/ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn/
"chaplain" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chaplain” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #16,432 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,432
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of a religious body who is (often, although not always, of the clergy) officially assigned to provide pastoral care at an institution, group, private chapel, etc.
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 | chaplain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #16,432 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chaplain” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for chaplain is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #16,432 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for chaplain, with forms such as "cahplain", "cchaplain", and "chalpain". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "Chapman", "Chaplin", "complain", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chapeleyn, from Old French chapelain, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin cappellānus, from cappella. Doublet of capelin. Displaced Old English handprēost. The correct English form is chaplain, spelled C-H-A-P-L-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1A member of a religious body who is (often, although not always, of the clergy) officially assigned to provide pastoral care at an institution, group, private chapel, etc.
- 2A person without religious affiliation who carries out similar duties in a secular context.
Etymology
From Middle English chapeleyn, from Old French chapelain, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin cappellānus, from cappella. Doublet of capelin. Displaced Old English handprēost.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahplain,cchaplain,chalpain,chapalin,chaplainn,chaplani,chaplian,chapllain,chapplain,chhaplain,chpalain,hcaplain
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chaplain - 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 "chaplain"?
What does "chaplain" mean?
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Using “chaplain”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-P-L-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Chapman” - see the side-by-side comparison. chaplain vs Chapman
- 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.