legalise
/ˈliːɡəlaɪz/
"legalise" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“legalise” is uncommon English (frequency #57,514 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,514
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of legalize.
Corpus desk
Index EN-legalise · legalise · English
legalise · rank #57,514 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,514
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH leant
Nearest frequency peer: leant (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “legalise”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- LBW
LBW
42,490 corpus weight
- leaguer
leaguer
42,489 corpus weight
- leant
leant
42,488 corpus weight
- legalise
legalise
42,487 corpus weight
- lemongrass
lemongrass
42,485 corpus weight
- leucine
leucine
42,484 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “legalise” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | legalise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈliːɡəlaɪz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #57,514 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “legalise” in English
Rare enough to double-check
legalise is uncommon English at frequency #57,514 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈliːɡəlaɪz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of legalize.".
legalise has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From legal + -ise. Piecewise doublet of loyalise. The correct English form is legalise, spelled L-E-G-A-L-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of legalize.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how legalise appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
At a time when multipartyism had already been legalised, the people were instructed by the police to unhoist their flag at Shumba Mjini and other places.
The “bare knuckled competition that globalisation requires" is presented as a non-negotiable given, while those on the receiving end of the consequences are dismissed as ill-informed and wishing to "legalise modern-day forms of piracy and counterfeiting" (and in this respect Shapiro is referring to the governments of Brazil and India).
Etymology
From legal + -ise. Piecewise doublet of loyalise.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "legalise", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).