Hillary
/ˈhɪ.lə.ɹi/
"hillary" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Hillary” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,308 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #4,308
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A unisex given name from Latin.
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 | Hillary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɪ.lə.ɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,308 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hillary” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Hillary is 7 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɪ.lə.ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,308 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for Hillary, with forms such as "hhillary", "hilalry", and "hillarry". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "hilly", "Hiller", "Hilary", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Hilarius or Hilaria, from hilare (“cheerfully”) (compare English hilarious). The correct English form is Hillary, spelled H-I-L-L-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A unisex given name from Latin.
- 2A unisex given name from Latin.
- 3A surname originating as a patronymic.
Etymology
From Latin Hilarius or Hilaria, from hilare (“cheerfully”) (compare English hilarious).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhillary,hilalry,hillarry,hillaryy,hillayr,hillray,hlilary,ihllary
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Hillary - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “Hillary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-L-L-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɪ.lə.ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hilly” - see the side-by-side comparison. Hillary vs hilly
- 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.