literalism
"literalism" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“literalism” is uncommon English (frequency #92,809 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,809
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Literal interpretation or understanding; adherence to the exact letter or precise significance, as in interpreting or translating.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | literalism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #92,809 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “literalism” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
literalism is uncommon English at frequency #92,809 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for literalism, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From literal + -ism. The correct English form is literalism, spelled L-I-T-E-R-A-L-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1Literal interpretation or understanding; adherence to the exact letter or precise significance, as in interpreting or translating.
- 2The style of art portraying a subject as literally and accurately as possible.
Etymology
From literal + -ism.
This word in other languages
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 “literalism”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-I-T-E-R-A-L-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.