Cherokee
/ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/
"cherokee" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Cherokee” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,981. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,981
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of an indigenous North American people.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Cherokee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #15,981 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Cherokee” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around Cherokee (IPA /ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,981 among 43,570 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A member of an indigenous North American people.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for Cherokee, with forms such as "ccherokee", "cehrokee", and "cheorkee". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Most likely from the Cherokee autonym ᏣᎳᎩ (tsalagi). Derivation from a Choctaw exonym meaning "those who live in caves" (compare chiluk (“cave”)) has also been suggested — the Iroquois term for the Cherokee was Oyata'ge'ronon (“inhabitants of the cave count… The correct English form is Cherokee, spelled C-H-E-R-O-K-E-E.
Definition
- 1A member of an indigenous North American people.
Etymology
Most likely from the Cherokee autonym ᏣᎳᎩ (tsalagi). Derivation from a Choctaw exonym meaning "those who live in caves" (compare chiluk (“cave”)) has also been suggested — the Iroquois term for the Cherokee was Oyata'ge'ronon (“inhabitants of the cave country”) — as has derivation from a Creek term for "person(s) who speak(s) a non-Creek language" (see celokketv (“to speak a non-creek language”)). Whatever its origin, the ethnonym entered European languages at an early date, perhaps as early as the 1670s; in Spanish, the people are called the Tchalaquei as early as 1755.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccherokee,cehrokee,cheorkee,cherkoee,cheroeke,cheroke,cherokkee,cherrokee,chherokee,chreokee,hcerokee
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Cherokee - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "Cherokee"?
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Using “Cherokee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-E-R-O-K-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.