holiday
/ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/
"holiday" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“holiday” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,207 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,207
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.
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 | holiday |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,207 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “holiday” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for holiday is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,207 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for holiday, with forms such as "hholiday", "hloiday", and "hoilday". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "holidays", "Holliday", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English halyday, holyday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (“holy day, Sabbath”), equivalent to holy + day. Compare West Frisian hjeldei (“holiday”), Danish helligdag (“holiday”), Norwegian helligdag (“holiday”), Swedish helgdag (“ho… The correct English form is holiday, spelled H-O-L-I-D-A-Y.
Definition
- 1A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.
- 2A day declared free from work by the state or government.
- 3A period of one or more days taken off work for leisure and often travel; often plural.
- 4A period during which pupils do not attend their school; often plural; rarely used for students at university (usually: vacation).
- 5A period during which, by agreement, the usual payments are not made.
- 6A gap in coverage, e.g. of paint on a surface, or sonar imagery.
Etymology
From Middle English halyday, holyday, halidei, haliȝdei, from Old English hāliġdæġ (“holy day, Sabbath”), equivalent to holy + day. Compare West Frisian hjeldei (“holiday”), Danish helligdag (“holiday”), Norwegian helligdag (“holiday”), Swedish helgdag (“holiday, feast”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hholiday,hloiday,hoilday,holdiay,holiady,holidayy,holidday,holidya,ohliday
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of holiday - 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
How do you spell "holiday"?
What does "holiday" mean?
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Using “holiday”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-I-D-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɒlɪˌdeɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “holidays” - see the side-by-side comparison. holiday vs holidays
- 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.