identity
/aɪˈdɛntɪti/
"identity" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“identity” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,255 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,255
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
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 | identity |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /aɪˈdɛntɪti/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #2,255 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “identity” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for identity is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /aɪˈdɛntɪti/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,255 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for identity, with forms such as "dientity", "iddentity", and "idenitty". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "identify", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French identité, from Latin identitās. The correct English form is identity, spelled I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
- 2The difference or character that marks off an individual or collective from the rest of the same kind; selfhood; the sense of who something or someone or oneself is, or the recurring characteristics that enable the recognition of such an individual or group by others or themselves.
- 3A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.
- 4An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables.
- 5Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.
- 6An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this second element.
- 7A well-known or famous person.
Etymology
From Middle French identité, from Latin identitās.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: dientity,iddentity,idenitty,idenntity,identitty,identityy,identiyt,identtity,identtiy,idetnity,idnetity,iedntity
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of identity - 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 "identity"?
What does "identity" mean?
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Using “identity”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /aɪˈdɛntɪti/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “identify” - see the side-by-side comparison. identity vs identify
- 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.