graduate
/ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuət/
"graduate" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“graduate” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,000 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,000
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who is recognized by a university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
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 | graduate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuət/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #3,000 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “graduate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for graduate is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuət/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,000 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for graduate, with forms such as "garduate", "ggraduate", and "gradaute". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "graduated", "gradual", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English graduat(e) (“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”, also used as the past participle of graduaten (“to graduate”)), borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus (“graduated, graduate”), perfect passive part… The correct English form is graduate, spelled G-R-A-D-U-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1A person who is recognized by a university as having completed the requirements of a degree studied at the institution.
- 2A person who is recognized by a high school as having completed the requirements of a course of study at the school.
- 3A person who is recognized as having completed any level of education.
- 4A graduated (marked) cup or other container, thus fit for measuring.
Etymology
From Middle English graduat(e) (“(noun) a graduate of a university; (adjective) graduate, having graduated”, also used as the past participle of graduaten (“to graduate”)), borrowed from Medieval Latin graduātus (“graduated, graduate”), perfect passive participle of graduō (“to graduate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from gradus (“step”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). The noun is originally derived within Latin from the adjective via substantivization, see -ate (noun-forming suffix). Sense 10 of the verb, relating to Japanese entertainment, is a semantic loan from Japanese 卒業 (sotsugyō).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: garduate,ggraduate,gradaute,gradduate,graduaet,graduatte,gradutae,graudate,grdauate,grraduate,rgaduate
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of graduate - 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 “graduate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-R-A-D-U-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡɹæd͡ʒuət/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “graduated” - see the side-by-side comparison. graduate vs graduated
- 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.