emphasise

verb

"emphasise" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“emphasise” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #26,410. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,410
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - British standard spelling of emphasize.

Corpus desk

Index EN-emphasise · emphasise · English

emphasise · rank #26,410 · 13 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,410
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH emphatically

Nearest frequency peer: emphatically (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “emphasise”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “emphasise” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

emphasise vs emphasize
89% similar
emphasise vs emphasized
80% similar
emphasise vs emphasis
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for emphasise
PropertyValue
Headwordemphasise
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Frequency rank#26,410
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “emphasise”

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).emphasiselands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “emphatically” (#26,411), “elitist” (#26,408), “electrolyte” (#26,407). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “emphasise” is #26,410. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around emphasise, averb. Corpus frequency is #26,410 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Dominant gloss: "British standard spelling of emphasize.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for emphasise, with forms such as "emhpasise", "emmphasise", and "empahsise". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "emphasize", "emphasized", "emphasis", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is emphasise, spelled E-M-P-H-A-S-I-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    British standard spelling of emphasize.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. It has emphasised that the proposals do not involve any work on the railway itself, so train services would continue to run throughout.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emhpasise
  • emmphasise
  • empahsise
  • emphaisse
  • emphasies
  • emphasisse
  • emphassie
  • emphassise
  • emphhasise
  • emphsaise
  • empphasise
  • epmhasise
  • mephasise

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of emphasise - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

emhpasise2emmphasise1empahsise2emphaisse2emphasies2emphasisse1emphassie2emphassise1
Edit distance from "emphasise"

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 "emphasise"?
"emphasise" is spelled E-M-P-H-A-S-I-S-E.
What does "emphasise" mean?
As a verb, "emphasise" means: British standard spelling of emphasize.
What words are commonly confused with "emphasise"?
"emphasise" is commonly confused with "emphasize", "emphasized", "emphasis". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "emphasise" come from?
"emphasise" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "emphasise", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list