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
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A literary composition in the form of a letter or series of letters, especially one in verse.
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) |
Where “epistle” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around epistle (IPA /ɪˈpɪsl̩/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,795 among 18,836 “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.
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
How do you spell "epistle"?
What does "epistle" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "epistle"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “epistle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-P-I-S-T-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪˈpɪsl̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “episode” - see the side-by-side comparison. epistle vs episode
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.