detail
/ˈdiː.teɪl/
"detail" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“detail” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,621 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,621
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A part small enough to escape casual notice.
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 | detail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdiː.teɪl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,621 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “detail” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for detail is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdiː.teɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,621 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for detail, with forms such as "ddetail", "deatil", and "detaill". 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. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "devil", "detain", "details", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French détail, from Old French detail, from detaillier, from de- + taillier (“to cut”). Compare typologically Bulgarian подробност (podrobnost), Czech podrobnost, Russian подро́бность (podróbnostʹ) (akin to дроби́ть (drobítʹ)). The correct English form is detail, spelled D-E-T-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1A part small enough to escape casual notice.
- 2A profusion of details.
- 3The small parts that can escape casual notice.
- 4A part considered trivial enough to ignore.
- 5A person's name, address and other personal information.
- 6A temporary unit or assignment.
- 7An individual feature, fact, or other item, considered separately from the whole of which it is a part.
- 8A narrative which relates minute points; an account which dwells on particulars.
- 9A selected portion of a painting.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French détail, from Old French detail, from detaillier, from de- + taillier (“to cut”). Compare typologically Bulgarian подробност (podrobnost), Czech podrobnost, Russian подро́бность (podróbnostʹ) (akin to дроби́ть (drobítʹ)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddetail,deatil,detaill,detali,detial,dettail,dteail,edtail
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of detail - 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 “detail”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-T-A-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdiː.teɪl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “devil” - see the side-by-side comparison. detail vs devil
- 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.