epoch
/ˈiːpɒk/
"epoch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“epoch” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,662 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #22,662
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A particular period of history, or of a person's life, especially one considered noteworthy or remarkable.
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 | epoch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiːpɒk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #22,662 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “epoch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for epoch is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈiːpɒk/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,662 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for epoch, with forms such as "eopch", "epcoh", and "epocch". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "etch", "epoxy", "Erich", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Medieval Latin epocha, from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “a check, cessation, stop, pause, epoch of a star, i.e., the point at which it seems to halt after reaching the highest, and generally the place of a star; hence, a historical epoch”), from ἐπέχω… The correct English form is epoch, spelled E-P-O-C-H.
Definition
- 1A particular period of history, or of a person's life, especially one considered noteworthy or remarkable.
- 2A notable event which marks the beginning of such a period.
- 3A specific instant in time, chosen as the point of reference or zero value of a system that involves identifying instants of time.
- 4A geochronologic unit of hundreds of thousands to millions of years; a subdivision of a period, and subdivided into ages (or sometimes subepochs).
- 5One complete presentation of the training data set to an iterative machine learning algorithm.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin epocha, from Ancient Greek ἐποχή (epokhḗ, “a check, cessation, stop, pause, epoch of a star, i.e., the point at which it seems to halt after reaching the highest, and generally the place of a star; hence, a historical epoch”), from ἐπέχω (epékhō, “I hold in, check”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) + ἔχω (ékhō, “I have, hold”). Doublet of epoche.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eopch,epcoh,epocch,epochh,epohc,eppoch,peoch
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of epoch - 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 “epoch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-P-O-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈiːpɒk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “etch” - see the side-by-side comparison. epoch vs etch
- 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.