hallucinate
/həˈl(j)uːsɪneɪt/
"hallucinate" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hallucinate” is uncommon English (frequency #62,188 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,188
- frequency rank, English
- 23,837
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To seem to perceive things (with one or more of one's senses) which are not really present; to have visions; to experience a hallucination.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hallucinate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /həˈl(j)uːsɪneɪt/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #62,188 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hallucinate” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hallucinate is uncommon English at frequency #62,188 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /həˈl(j)uːsɪneɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for hallucinate, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1604; borrowed from Latin hallūcinātus, alternative form of alūcinātus, perfect active participle of alucinor (“to dream”); see -ate (verb-forming suffix). The correct English form is hallucinate, spelled H-A-L-L-U-C-I-N-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To seem to perceive things (with one or more of one's senses) which are not really present; to have visions; to experience a hallucination.
- 2To produce information that is not supported by the model's training data.
Etymology
First attested in 1604; borrowed from Latin hallūcinātus, alternative form of alūcinātus, perfect active participle of alucinor (“to dream”); see -ate (verb-forming suffix).
This word in other languages
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 “hallucinate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-L-L-U-C-I-N-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /həˈl(j)uːsɪneɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.