Menelaus
/ˌmɛn.ɪˈleɪ.əs/
"menelaus" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Menelaus” is uncommon English (frequency #61,627 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,627
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, the brother of Agamemnon, and the leader of the Spartan contingent of the Greek army during the Trojan War.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Menelaus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌmɛn.ɪˈleɪ.əs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #61,627 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Menelaus” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Menelaus is uncommon English at frequency #61,627 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˌmɛn.ɪˈleɪ.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, the brother of Agamemnon, and the leader of the Spartan contingent of the Greek army during the Trojan War.".
Menelaus doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Menelāus, from Ancient Greek Μενέλαος (Menélaos). The correct English form is Menelaus, spelled M-E-N-E-L-A-U-S.
Definition
- 1The king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, the brother of Agamemnon, and the leader of the Spartan contingent of the Greek army during the Trojan War.
Etymology
From Latin Menelāus, from Ancient Greek Μενέλαος (Menélaos).
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 “Menelaus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-N-E-L-A-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌmɛn.ɪˈleɪ.əs/ (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.