epistle
/ɪˈpɪsl̩/
"epistle" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“epistle” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,795. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #32,795
- frequency rank, English
- 2,246
- “E” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A literary composition in the form of a letter or series of letters, especially one in verse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-epistle · epistle · English
epistle · rank #32,795 · 10 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-MID #32,795
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,246
- PHOTO-FINISH epidural
Nearest frequency peer: epidural (-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 “epistle”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- epicenter
epicenter
67,208 corpus weight
- epidural
epidural
67,207 corpus weight
- epistle
epistle
67,206 corpus weight
- equating
equating
67,205 corpus weight
- erstwhile
erstwhile
67,204 corpus weight
- espoused
espoused
67,203 corpus weight
What this shows “epistle” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | epistle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɪˈpɪsl̩/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #32,795 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “epistle”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around epistle (IPA /ɪˈpɪsl̩/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,795 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for epistle, with forms such as "eipstle", "epislte", and "episstle". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "episode", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₁epi The noun is derived from Middle English epistel, epistole, pistel (“letter; literary work in letter form; written legend or story; spoken communication; (Christianity) one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament; extract from such… The correct English form is epistle, spelled E-P-I-S-T-L-E.
Definition
- 1A literary composition in the form of a letter or series of letters, especially one in verse.
- 2A letter, especially one which is formal or issued publicly.
- 3A letter, especially one which is formal or issued publicly.
- 4One of the books of the New Testament which was originally a letter issued by an apostle to an individual or a community.
- 5An extract from a New Testament epistle (noun sense 3.1) or book other than a gospel which is read during a church service, chiefly the Eucharist.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how epistle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[Y]our Grace ſhal herein perceiue a nevv faſhion of diſcourſe, by Epistles; nevv to our language, uſual to others: and (as Noueltie is neuer vvithout ſome plea of vſe) more free, more familiar.
For in this Addreſs to your Lordſhip, I deſign not a Treatiſe of Heroick Poetry, but vvrite in a looſe Epiſtolary vvay, ſomevvhat tending to that Subject, after the Example of Horace, in his Firſt Epiſtle of the Second Book to Auguſtus Cæſar, and of that to the Piſo’s, vvhich vve call his Art of Poetry.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi The noun is derived from Middle English epistel, epistole, pistel (“letter; literary work in letter form; written legend or story; spoken communication; (Christianity) one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament; extract from such a letter read as part of the Mass”) [and other forms], and then partly: * from Old English epistol, epistola, pistol (“letter, epistle”), from Latin epistola (“letter, epistle; literary work in letter form”) (whence Late Latin epistola (“one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament”)), from Ancient Greek ἐπῐστολή (epĭstolḗ, “letter; message”), from ἐπῐστέλλω (epĭstéllō, “to inform by, or to send, a letter or message”) (from ἐπῐ- (epĭ-, prefix meaning ‘on, upon’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at; near; on”)) + στέλλω (stéllō, “to dispatch, send”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to locate; to place, put”))) + -η (-ē, suffix forming action nouns); and * from Anglo-Norman epistle, and Middle French epistle, epistele, epistole (“letter; (Christianity) one of the letters by an apostle in the New Testament; extract from such a letter read as part of the Mass”) (modern French épître), from Latin epistola (see above). The verb is derived from the noun.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- eipstle
- epislte
- episstle
- epistel
- epistlle
- episttle
- epitsle
- eppistle
- epsitle
- peistle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of epistle - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "epistle", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).