faculty

/ˈfæk.əl.ti/

//ˈfæk.əl.ti// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"faculty" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“faculty” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,156. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,156
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.

Corpus desk

Index EN-faculty · faculty · English

faculty · rank #4,156 · 11 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,156
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH eve

Nearest frequency peer: eve (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “faculty”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “faculty” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

faculty vs fault
71% similar
faculty vs faults
71% similar
faculty vs faulty
86% similar

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

Key facts for faculty
PropertyValue
Headwordfaculty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfæk.əl.ti/
Letters7
Frequency rank#4,156
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “faculty” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).facultylands 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 “eve” (#4,155), “feedback” (#4,157), “encouraged” (#4,154). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around faculty (IPA /ˈfæk.əl.ti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,156 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for faculty, with forms such as "afculty", "facculty", and "facluty". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "fault", "faults", "faulty", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English faculte (“power, property”), from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas (“capability, ability, skill, abundance, plenty, stock, goods, property; in Medieval Latin also a body of teachers”), another form of facilitas (“easiness, facilit… The correct English form is faculty, spelled F-A-C-U-L-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.
  2. 2
    A division of a university.
  3. 3
    An ability, power, or skill.
  4. 4
    An authority, power, or privilege conferred by a higher authority.
  5. 5
    A licence to make alterations to a church.
  6. 6
    The members of a profession.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. She transferred from the Faculty of Science to the Faculty of Medicine.
  2. He lived until he reached the age of 90 with most of his faculties intact.

Etymology

From Middle English faculte (“power, property”), from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas (“capability, ability, skill, abundance, plenty, stock, goods, property; in Medieval Latin also a body of teachers”), another form of facilitas (“easiness, facility, etc.”), from facul, another form of facilis (“easy, facile”); see facile. Doublet of facility.

Synonyms

abilityattributecapabilitycapacityendowmentfacultygiftpotentialpotentialitypowerpropensitypropertytalentvirtuewherewithal

This word in other languages

claustro(Español)faculté(Français)Kollegium(Deutsch)setor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • afculty
  • facculty
  • facluty
  • facullty
  • facultty
  • facultyy
  • faculyt
  • facutly
  • fauclty
  • fcaulty
  • ffaculty

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of faculty - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

afculty2facculty1facluty2facullty1facultty1facultyy1faculyt2facutly2
Edit distance from "faculty"

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 "faculty"?
"faculty" is spelled F-A-C-U-L-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfæk.əl.ti/.
What does "faculty" mean?
As a noun, "faculty" means: The academic staff at schools, colleges, universities or not-for-profit research institutes, as opposed to the students or support staff.
What words are commonly confused with "faculty"?
"faculty" is commonly confused with "fault", "faults", "faulty". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "faculty"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "faculty" is /ˈfæk.əl.ti/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "faculty"?
From Middle English faculte (“power, property”), from Old French faculte, from Latin facultas (“capability, ability, skill, abundance, plenty, stock, goods, property; in Medieval Latin also a body of teachers”), another form of facilitas (“easines... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "faculty", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fighter#4,158courage#4,148listing#4,171mothers#4,173

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

nursing11 variantsaggressive11 variantsoperator11 variantsrailroad11 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "faculty". Here's where to go from here.

  • "faculty" maps to 4 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "fault". View pair
  • 11 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #4,156 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list