feral
/ˈfɛɹ.əl/
"feral" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“feral” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,837 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #19,837
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Wild; untamed.
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 | feral |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfɛɹ.əl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,837 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “feral” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for feral is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɛɹ.əl/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,837 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 feral, with forms such as "efral", "fearl", and "ferall". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fra", "Fran", "fray", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin fera (“wild beast”, noun) + -al or Latin ferus (“wild; savage; cruel”, adjective) + -al. Alternatively, borrowed from Middle French féral or Late Latin ferālis. The correct English form is feral, spelled F-E-R-A-L.
Definition
- 1Wild; untamed.
- 2Wild; untamed.
- 3Wild; untamed.
- 4Wild; untamed.
- 5Wild; untamed.
Etymology
From Latin fera (“wild beast”, noun) + -al or Latin ferus (“wild; savage; cruel”, adjective) + -al. Alternatively, borrowed from Middle French féral or Late Latin ferālis.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: efral,fearl,ferall,ferla,ferral,fferal,freal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of feral - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “feral”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-E-R-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɛɹ.əl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fra” - see the side-by-side comparison. feral vs fra
- 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.