congratulate
/kənˈɡɹæt͡ʃ.ʊˌleɪt/
"congratulate" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“congratulate” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,122 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #13,122
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | congratulate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kənˈɡɹæt͡ʃ.ʊˌleɪt/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #13,122 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “congratulate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for congratulate is 12 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kənˈɡɹæt͡ʃ.ʊˌleɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,122 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 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for congratulate, with forms such as "ccongratulate", "cnogratulate", and "cognratulate". 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. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1548; borrowed from Latin congrātulātus, the perfect active participle of Latin grātulor (“to wish joice, rejoice (with); to congratulate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from con- + grātulor, from grātus (“grateful, pleasing, agreeable… The correct English form is congratulate, spelled C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for
- 2To consider oneself fortunate in some matter.
Etymology
First attested in 1548; borrowed from Latin congrātulātus, the perfect active participle of Latin grātulor (“to wish joice, rejoice (with); to congratulate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from con- + grātulor, from grātus (“grateful, pleasing, agreeable, beloved”) + -or. By surface analysis, con- + gratulate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccongratulate,cnogratulate,cognratulate,congartulate,conggratulate,congratluate,congrattulate,congratualte,congratulaet,congratulatte,congratullate,congratultae,congrautlate,congrratulate,congrtaulate,conngratulate,conrgatulate,ocngratulate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of congratulate - 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.
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
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Using “congratulate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kənˈɡɹæt͡ʃ.ʊˌleɪt/ (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.