licence
/ˈlaɪ.səns/
"licence" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“licence” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,469. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,469
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.
Corpus desk
Index EN-licence · licence · English
licence · rank #7,469 · 11 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,469
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lanes
Nearest frequency peer: lanes (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “licence”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Joel
Joel
92,535 corpus weight
- kissing
kissing
92,534 corpus weight
- lanes
lanes
92,533 corpus weight
- licence
licence
92,532 corpus weight
- lungs
lungs
92,531 corpus weight
- madness
madness
92,530 corpus weight
What this shows “licence” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | licence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪ.səns/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #7,469 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “licence”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around licence (IPA /ˈlaɪ.səns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,469 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Dominant gloss: "UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for licence, with forms such as "ilcence", "lcience", and "licance". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "license", "licensed", "licensee", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is licence, spelled L-I-C-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how licence appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In some areas they have attempted to decasualize certain types of employment and to control street-trading by a local licensing system requiring juveniles to obtain their licences through the committees.
Serlio criticises the artistic licence taken by both ancient and contemporary architects, here specifically related to the confusion created by the rich decoration of the arch–in his illustrations, he stripped the monument of most of its beautifully […]
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ilcence
- lcience
- licance
- liccence
- licecne
- licencce
- licenec
- licennce
- licnece
- liecnce
- llicence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of licence - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "licence"?
What does "licence" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "licence"?
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What language does "licence" come from?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "licence", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).