fallible
/ˈfal.ɪ.bəl/
"fallible" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fallible” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #49,326 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #49,326
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.
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 | fallible |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfal.ɪ.bəl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #49,326 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fallible” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fallible is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfal.ɪ.bəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #49,326 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for fallible, with forms such as "afllible", "falible", and "falilble". 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, "follicle", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fallible, from Medieval Latin fallibilis (“liable to err, also deceitful”), from Latin fallere (“to deceive”). The correct English form is fallible, spelled F-A-L-L-I-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.
Etymology
From Middle English fallible, from Medieval Latin fallibilis (“liable to err, also deceitful”), from Latin fallere (“to deceive”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afllible,falible,falilble,fallable,fallbile,fallibble,fallibel,falliblle,fallilbe,ffallible,flalible
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fallible - 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.
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 “fallible”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-L-L-I-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfal.ɪ.bəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “follicle” - see the side-by-side comparison. fallible vs follicle
- 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.