identical
i·den·ti·cal/ɪˈdɛntɪkl̩/adjective, noun
identical is spelled I-D-E-N-T-I-C-A-L, 4 syllables: i·den·ti·cal. The wrong spelling people search most is identicle: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Identical is an adjective meaning “Bearing full likeness by having precisely the same set of characteristics; indistinguishable”.
How many letters and syllables are in identical?
| Letters | 9: I-D-E-N-T-I-C-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: i·den·ti·cal |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, identicle, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell identical?
Identical is spelled I-D-E-N-T-I-C-A-L. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for identical in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is identical?
Identical appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce identical?
- /ɪˈdɛntɪkl̩/
- /aɪˈdɛntɪkl̩/
Identical has 4 syllables, split i·den·ti·cal in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-identical.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of identical
- more identical comparative
- most identical superlative
- identicals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does identical mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Bearing full likeness by having precisely the same set of characteristics; indistinguishable.
My car is identical with the one my mom has just bought.
- 2
Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; numerically identical.
- 3
Of twins, sharing the same genetic code.
- 4
Exactly equivalent.
- 5
rareApproximating or approaching exact equivalence.
noun
- 1
Something which has exactly the same properties as something else.
- 2
An identical twin.
- 3
A rhyme on the same syllable, such as "leave" and "believe".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Identical in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | identique , le même, la même, les mêmes , monozygote |
| German | identisch , eineiig , gleich |
| Portuguese | idêntico , idênticos, idêntica, idênticas |
| Spanish | idéntico, clónico |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does identical come from?
From identic + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).