melissa
/məˈlɪsə/
"melissa" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“melissa” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,066. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #9,066
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A plant of the genus Melissa, especially lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), often used medicinally.
Corpus desk
Index EN-melissa · melissa · English
melissa · rank #9,066 · 8 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #9,066
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH mat
Nearest frequency peer: mat (-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 “melissa”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- marina
marina
90,937 corpus weight
- mat
mat
90,936 corpus weight
- melissa
melissa
90,935 corpus weight
- Milton
Milton
90,934 corpus weight
- Miranda
Miranda
90,933 corpus weight
- ML
ML
90,932 corpus weight
What this shows “melissa” 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 | melissa |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈlɪsə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #9,066 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “melissa”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around melissa (IPA /məˈlɪsə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,066 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A plant of the genus Melissa, especially lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), often used medicinally.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for melissa, with forms such as "emlissa", "meilssa", and "melisa". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "missa", "Melinda", "Marissa", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Latin melissa, from Ancient Greek μέλισσα (mélissa, “bee”), because the plant attracts bees. The correct English form is melissa, spelled M-E-L-I-S-S-A.
Definition
- 1A plant of the genus Melissa, especially lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), often used medicinally.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how melissa appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Meliſſa, Bawme, hath an excellent vertue to alter Melancholy, bee it ſteeped in our ordinary drinke, extracted, or otherwise taken.
Etymology
From Late Latin melissa, from Ancient Greek μέλισσα (mélissa, “bee”), because the plant attracts bees.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- emlissa
- meilssa
- melisa
- melisas
- mellissa
- melsisa
- mleissa
- mmelissa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of melissa - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "melissa"?
What does "melissa" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "melissa"?
How do you pronounce "melissa"?
What is the origin of the word "melissa"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "melissa", 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 (8 here; floor ≥5).