herpes
/ˈhɜː(ɹ).piz/
"herpes" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“herpes” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,335. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,335
- frequency rank, English
- 2,646
- “H” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A viral infection, caused by Human alphaherpesvirus 1 and Human alphaherpesvirus 2, marked by painful, watery blisters in the skin or in the mucous membranes or on the genitals.
Corpus desk
Index EN-herpes · herpes · English
herpes · rank #18,335 · 9 variants · 19 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,335
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,646
- PHOTO-FINISH heresy
Nearest frequency peer: heresy (-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 “herpes”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- hella
hella
81,668 corpus weight
- heresy
heresy
81,667 corpus weight
- herpes
herpes
81,666 corpus weight
- hipster
hipster
81,665 corpus weight
- hostess
hostess
81,663 corpus weight
- HUD
HUD
81,662 corpus weight
What this shows “herpes” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | herpes |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɜː(ɹ).piz/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #18,335 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “herpes”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around herpes (IPA /ˈhɜː(ɹ).piz/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,335 among 2,646 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A viral infection, caused by Human alphaherpesvirus 1 and Human alphaherpesvirus 2, marked by painful, watery blisters in the skin or in the mucous membranes or on the genitals.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for herpes, with forms such as "ehrpes", "hepres", and "hereps". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "hers", "hopes", "horses", 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 herpēs, from Ancient Greek ἕρπης (hérpēs, “herpes”, literally “a creeping”), from ἕρπειν (hérpein, “to creep”). The correct English form is herpes, spelled H-E-R-P-E-S.
Definition
- 1A viral infection, caused by Human alphaherpesvirus 1 and Human alphaherpesvirus 2, marked by painful, watery blisters in the skin or in the mucous membranes or on the genitals.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how herpes appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This, of course, is something only people with that STI would know. For example, herpes is 437737.
Etymology
From Latin herpēs, from Ancient Greek ἕρπης (hérpēs, “herpes”, literally “a creeping”), from ἕρπειν (hérpein, “to creep”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ehrpes
- hepres
- hereps
- herpess
- herppes
- herpse
- herrpes
- hherpes
- hrepes
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of herpes - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "herpes", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).