Israel
/ˈɪz.ɹeɪ.əl/
"israel" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Israel” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,761 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #1,761
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A country in Western Asia in the Middle East, at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Official name: State of Israel.
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 | Israel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪz.ɹeɪ.əl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,761 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Israel” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Israel is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪz.ɹeɪ.əl/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,761 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 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 Israel, with forms such as "irsael", "isarel", and "israell". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "Israeli", "Israelis", "Isabel", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English Israel, from Old English, borrowed from Latin Israel, from Ancient Greek Ἰσραήλ (Israḗl), from Hebrew יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra'él, “Israel”). In the Bible, it is said to be from the name יִשְׂרֶה אֵל (yisré 'él) given to Jacob in he:T:29, after… The correct English form is Israel, spelled I-S-R-A-E-L.
Definition
- 1A country in Western Asia in the Middle East, at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Official name: State of Israel.
- 2A Biblical region of Western Asia roughly coextensive with the modern State of Israel, known in the Bible as the Land of Israel and considered the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.
- 3An ancient kingdom in Western Asia, roughly coextensive with the modern State of Israel and the Land of Israel.
- 4An ancient kingdom that occupied the northern part of the Land of Israel and modern State of Israel, as distinct from Judah.
- 5The Jews as a people, taken collectively.
- 6A male given name from Hebrew.
- 7A male given name from Hebrew.
- 8A surname.
- 9A barangay of Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines.
Etymology
From Middle English Israel, from Old English, borrowed from Latin Israel, from Ancient Greek Ἰσραήλ (Israḗl), from Hebrew יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra'él, “Israel”). In the Bible, it is said to be from the name יִשְׂרֶה אֵל (yisré 'él) given to Jacob in he:T:29, after which his descendants came to be known as Israelites and their land as the "kingdom/land of Israel". The personal name, already attested in Eblaite 𒅖𒊏𒅋 (iš-ra-il) and Ugaritic 𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍 (yšrỉl), has been variously translated as "he wrestles with God", "he prevails with God", or "God rules" (possibly from the same root ש־ר־ה/ש־ר־ר as שָׂרָה (“Sarah”)). Line 27 of the Merneptah Stele (from about 1200 B.C.E.) is thought to contain the earliest attestation of the name Israel in any language, Egyptian ysrjꜣr. : i-i-z:Z1s*Z1s:r-i-A-r:Z1*T14-A1*B1:Z2 Doublet of Yisroel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: irsael,isarel,israell,israle,isreal,isrrael,issrael,sirael
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Israel - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “Israel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-S-R-A-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪz.ɹeɪ.əl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Israeli” - see the side-by-side comparison. Israel vs Israeli
- 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.