Maccabees
/ˈmækəbiːz/
"maccabees" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Maccabees” is uncommon English (frequency #61,605 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,605
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One of two books of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canon of the Old Testament, considered apocryphal by Protestants.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Maccabees |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈmækəbiːz/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #61,605 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Maccabees” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Maccabees is uncommon English at frequency #61,605 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈmækəbiːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Maccabees, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is Maccabees, spelled M-A-C-C-A-B-E-E-S.
Definition
- 1One of two books of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canon of the Old Testament, considered apocryphal by Protestants.
- 2A Jewish liberation movement who fought for, and established, independence in the Land of Israel during the second and first centuries BCE.
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 “Maccabees”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-C-C-A-B-E-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmækəbiːz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.