McCarthy
/məˈkɑː.θi/
"mccarthy" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“McCarthy” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,576. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #10,576
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Irish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-mccarthy · McCarthy · English
McCarthy · rank #10,576 · 12 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-MID #10,576
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Liu
Nearest frequency peer: Liu (-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 “McCarthy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- limbs
limbs
89,428 corpus weight
- Lionel
Lionel
89,427 corpus weight
- Liu
Liu
89,426 corpus weight
- McCarthy
McCarthy
89,425 corpus weight
- Medicaid
Medicaid
89,424 corpus weight
- mil
mil
89,422 corpus weight
What this shows “McCarthy” 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 | McCarthy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /məˈkɑː.θi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #10,576 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “McCarthy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around McCarthy (IPA /məˈkɑː.θi/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #10,576 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for McCarthy, with forms such as "cmcarthy", "mcacrthy", and "mcarthy". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "McCarty", "McCartney", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Irish Mac Carthaigh (literally “son of Carthach”). The correct English form is McCarthy, spelled M-C-C-A-R-T-H-Y.
Definition
- 1A surname from Irish.
- 2A census-designated place in Copper River Census Area, Alaska, United States.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how McCarthy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The McCarthys say they did not wish to publicize the incident, but the Catholic newspaper in Maine heard about it and wrote an article.
Life is finally loose, one could say, liberated from its social constrains and sincere in its necessities, its insistence and its arrogative demands, but McCarthy also reveals the implications of life's liberation and, by the same token, unmasks any misplaced romanticisations regarding its disavowal in the polis:
Etymology
Borrowed from Irish Mac Carthaigh (literally “son of Carthach”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cmcarthy
- mcacrthy
- mcarthy
- mccarhty
- mccarrthy
- mccarthhy
- mccarthyy
- mccartthy
- mccartyh
- mccatrhy
- mccrathy
- mmccarthy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of McCarthy - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "McCarthy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).