glee

/ɡliː/

//ɡliː// noun

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

"glee" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“glee” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,177. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,177
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.

Corpus desk

Index EN-glee · glee · English

glee · rank #15,177 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,177
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH grassroots

Nearest frequency peer: grassroots (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “glee”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “glee” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

glee vs GRE
0% similar
glee vs GLO
0% similar
glee vs goes
50% similar

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

Key facts for glee
PropertyValue
Headwordglee
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡliː/
Letters4
Frequency rank#15,177
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “glee”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).gleelands 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 “grassroots” (#15,178), “gardener” (#15,175), “gravitational” (#15,179). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “glee” is #15,177. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around glee (IPA /ɡliː/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,177 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for glee, with forms such as "gele", "gglee", and "gle". 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, "GRE", "GLO", "goes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”… The correct English form is glee, spelled G-L-E-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
  2. 2
    Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
  3. 3
    An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the gods they made.
  2. Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

Etymology

From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”). Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew (“game, play, sport, mirth, joy, rejoicing, entertainment, melody, music”), Icelandic glý (“joy, glee, gladness”), Ancient Greek χλεύη (khleúē, “joke, jest, scorn”). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.

This word in other languages

alegría(Español)joie(Français)Freude(Deutsch)alegria(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • gele
  • gglee
  • gle
  • gllee
  • lgee

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of glee - 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.

gele2gglee1gle1gllee1lgee2
Edit distance from "glee"

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 "glee"?
"glee" is spelled G-L-E-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡliː/.
What does "glee" mean?
As a noun, "glee" means: Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
What words are commonly confused with "glee"?
"glee" is commonly confused with "GRE", "GLO", "goes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "glee"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "glee" is /ɡliː/. 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 "glee"?
From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make f... 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 "glee", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

flap#15,170IKEA#15,193knob#15,203LIGA#15,209

Similar misspelling depth

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

fella5 variantsdine5 variantscoco5 variantsbrag5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list