constable
/ˈkʌnstəbəl/
"constable" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“constable” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,722 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,722
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
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 | constable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkʌnstəbəl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #9,722 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “constable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for constable is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkʌnstəbəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,722 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for constable, with forms such as "cconstable", "cnostable", and "connstable". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Constance", "consumable", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable. The correct English form is constable, spelled C-O-N-S-T-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
- 2A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
- 3An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
- 4The warden of a castle.
- 5An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
- 6An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
- 7A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.
Etymology
From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cconstable,cnostable,connstable,consatble,consstable,constabble,constabel,constablle,constalbe,constbale,constible,consttable,contsable,cosntable,ocnstable
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of constable - 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 “constable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-S-T-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkʌnstəbəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Constance” - see the side-by-side comparison. constable vs Constance
- 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.