federal
/ˈfɛdəɹəl/
"federal" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“federal” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #768 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #768
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.
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 | federal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfɛdəɹəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #768 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “federal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for federal is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɛdəɹəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #768 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for federal, with forms such as "efderal", "fdeeral", and "fedderal". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "feral", "fedora", "funeral", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French fédéral, from Latin stem foeder- of foedus (“covenant, league, treaty, alliance”). The correct English form is federal, spelled F-E-D-E-R-A-L.
Definition
- 1Pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.
- 2Pertaining to the national government level in a federal nation, as opposed to state, provincial, county, city, or town.
- 3Relating to covenantalism.
Etymology
From French fédéral, from Latin stem foeder- of foedus (“covenant, league, treaty, alliance”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: efderal,fdeeral,fedderal,fedearl,federall,federla,federral,fedreal,feedral,ffederal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of federal - 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 “federal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-E-D-E-R-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɛdəɹəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “feral” - see the side-by-side comparison. federal vs feral
- 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.