discipleship

noun

"discipleship" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“discipleship” is uncommon English (frequency #52,896 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,896
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The condition of being a disciple.

Corpus desk

Index EN-discipleship · discipleship · English

discipleship · rank #52,896 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,896
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH discontinuity

Nearest frequency peer: discontinuity (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “discipleship”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “discipleship” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for discipleship
PropertyValue
Headworddiscipleship
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#52,896
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “discipleship” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).discipleshipfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “discontinuity” (#52,897), “disquiet” (#52,898), “dewan” (#52,891). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “discipleship” is #52,896. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

discipleship is uncommon English at frequency #52,896 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for discipleship, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From disciple + -ship. The correct English form is discipleship, spelled D-I-S-C-I-P-L-E-S-H-I-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    The condition of being a disciple.
  2. 2
    The period during which a person is a disciple.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how discipleship appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Near-synonyms: followership; apprenticeship, tutelage
  2. The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible—and the man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also. Discipleship is a degenerating process to all parties concerned. People who are able to do their own thinking s…

Etymology

From disciple + -ship.

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 "discipleship"?
"discipleship" is spelled D-I-S-C-I-P-L-E-S-H-I-P.
What does "discipleship" mean?
As a noun, "discipleship" means: The condition of being a disciple.
What is the origin of the word "discipleship"?
From disciple + -ship. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "discipleship", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list