comedy of errors
/ˌkɒmɪdi əv ˈɛɹəz/
"comedy-of-errors" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“comedy of errors” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A comedy in which the humour is due to misinterpretations, mistaken identity, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | comedy of errors |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkɒmɪdi əv ˈɛɹəz/ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “comedy of errors” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
comedy of errors is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌkɒmɪdi əv ˈɛɹəz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
comedy of errors has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From comedy + of + errors, probably coined by the English playwright William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616) as the title of the play The Comedy of Errors (written c. 1594; published 1623), about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who are involved … The correct English form is comedy of errors, spelled C-O-M-E-D-Y- -O-F- -E-R-R-O-R-S.
Definition
- 1A comedy in which the humour is due to misinterpretations, mistaken identity, etc.
- 2A series of amusing or farcical events involving awkward missteps or other mistakes.
Etymology
From comedy + of + errors, probably coined by the English playwright William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616) as the title of the play The Comedy of Errors (written c. 1594; published 1623), about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who are involved in a series of mistaken identities.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Using “comedy of errors”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-E-D-Y- -O-F- -E-R-R-O-R-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkɒmɪdi əv ˈɛɹəz/ (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
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.