forcible
"forcible" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“forcible” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #36,147 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #36,147
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Done by force, forced.
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 | forcible |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #36,147 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “forcible” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for forcible is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #36,147 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for forcible, with forms such as "fforcible", "focrible", and "forcable". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "forcibly", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English forcible, forsable, from Old French forcible, from forcier (“to conquer by force”), equivalent to force + -ible. The correct English form is forcible, spelled F-O-R-C-I-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Done by force, forced.
- 2Having (physical) force, forceful.
- 3Having a powerful effect; forceful, telling, strong, convincing, effective.
- 4Able to be forced.
Etymology
From Middle English forcible, forsable, from Old French forcible, from forcier (“to conquer by force”), equivalent to force + -ible.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fforcible,focrible,forcable,forcbile,forccible,forcibble,forcibel,forciblle,forcilbe,foricble,forrcible,frocible,ofrcible
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of forcible - 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 “forcible”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-C-I-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “forcibly” - see the side-by-side comparison. forcible vs forcibly
- 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.