merciless
/ˈmɜːsɪləs/
"merciless" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“merciless” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,558 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #27,558
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.
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 | merciless |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmɜːsɪləs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #27,558 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “merciless” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for merciless is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɜːsɪləs/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,558 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for merciless, with forms such as "emrciless", "mecriless", and "mercciless". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "mercilessly", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English merciles, mercyles, equivalent to mercy + -less. The correct English form is merciless, spelled M-E-R-C-I-L-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.
Etymology
From Middle English merciles, mercyles, equivalent to mercy + -less.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emrciless,mecriless,mercciless,mercielss,merciles,mercilless,mercilses,mercliess,mericless,merrciless,mmerciless,mreciless
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of merciless - 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
How do you spell "merciless"?
What does "merciless" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "merciless"?
How do you pronounce "merciless"?
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Using “merciless”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-R-C-I-L-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɜːsɪləs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mercilessly” - see the side-by-side comparison. merciless vs mercilessly
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.