empathy
/ˈɛmpəθi/
"empathy" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“empathy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,844 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,844
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
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 | empathy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛmpəθi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #10,844 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “empathy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for empathy is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛmpəθi/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,844 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for empathy, with forms such as "emapthy", "emmpathy", and "empahty". 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, "empty", "empathic", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: A twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), equivalent to em- + -pathy, coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. T… The correct English form is empathy, spelled E-M-P-A-T-H-Y.
Definition
- 1Identification with or understanding of the thoughts, feelings, or emotional state of another person.
- 2The capacity to understand another person's point of view or the result of such understanding.
- 3A paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.
- 4MDMA.
Etymology
A twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), equivalent to em- + -pathy, coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. The modern word in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emapthy,emmpathy,empahty,empathhy,empathyy,empatthy,empatyh,emppathy,emptahy,epmathy,mepathy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of empathy - 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
How do you spell "empathy"?
What does "empathy" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "empathy"?
How do you pronounce "empathy"?
What is the origin of the word "empathy"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “empathy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-M-P-A-T-H-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɛmpəθi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “empty” - see the side-by-side comparison. empathy vs empty
- 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.