empire
/ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/
"empire" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“empire” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,789 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,789
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A political state, often a monarchy, that has achieved a much greater current size than its initial size by conquering surrounding territories, cities or nations.
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 | empire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,789 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “empire” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for empire is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,789 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 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for empire, with forms such as "emipre", "emmpire", and "empier". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "entire", "expire", "expiry", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). D… The correct English form is empire, spelled E-M-P-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A political state, often a monarchy, that has achieved a much greater current size than its initial size by conquering surrounding territories, cities or nations.
- 2A political unit ruled by an emperor or empress.
- 3The group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to an imperial power (foreign to them), when distinguished from the native territory of that power; imperial possessions.
- 4An expansive and powerful enterprise under the control of one person or group.
- 5control, dominion, sway.
Etymology
From Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of empery and imperium.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emipre,emmpire,empier,empirre,emppire,emprie,epmire,mepire
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of empire - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “empire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-M-P-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “entire” - see the side-by-side comparison. empire vs entire
- 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.