emphasis
/ˈɛmfəsɪs/
"emphasis" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“emphasis” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,216 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,216
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.
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 | emphasis |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #5,216 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “emphasis” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for emphasis is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛmfəsɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,216 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for emphasis, with forms such as "emhpasis", "emmphasis", and "empahsis". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "emphatic", "emphasize", "emphasise", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”). The correct English form is emphasis, spelled E-M-P-H-A-S-I-S.
Definition
- 1Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.
- 2Special attention or prominence given to something.
- 3Prominence given to a syllable or words, by raising the voice or printing in italic or underlined type.
- 4The phonetic or phonological feature that distinguishes emphatic consonants from other consonants.
- 5The use of boldface, italics, or other such formatting to highlight text.
Etymology
From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “to present; to indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emhpasis,emmphasis,empahsis,emphaiss,emphasiss,emphassi,emphassis,emphhasis,emphsais,empphasis,epmhasis,mephasis
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of emphasis - 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 “emphasis”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-M-P-H-A-S-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “emphatic” - see the side-by-side comparison. emphasis vs emphatic
- 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.