metal
/ˈmɛ.təl/
"metal" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“metal” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,607. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,607
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
Corpus desk
Index EN-metal · metal · English
metal · rank #1,607 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,607
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Louis
Nearest frequency peer: Louis (-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 “metal”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- jack
jack
98,397 corpus weight
- larger
larger
98,396 corpus weight
- Louis
Louis
98,395 corpus weight
- metal
metal
98,394 corpus weight
- Paris
Paris
98,392 corpus weight
- profile
profile
98,391 corpus weight
What this shows “metal” 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 | metal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɛ.təl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,607 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “metal”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around metal (IPA /ˈmɛ.təl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,607 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for metal, with forms such as "emtal", "meatl", and "metall". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MTA", "mets", "meth", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English metal, a borrowing from Old French metal, from Latin metallum (“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”). The correct English form is metal, spelled M-E-T-A-L.
Definition
- 1Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 2Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 3Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 4Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 5Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 6Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- 7A light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent (white or silver) and or (gold).
- 8Molten glass that is to be blown or moulded to form objects.
- 9A category of rock music encompassing a number of genres (including thrash metal, death metal, heavy metal, etc.) characterized by strong drumbeats and distorted guitars.
- 10The substance that constitutes something or someone; matter; hence, character or temper.
- 11The effective power or calibre of guns carried by a vessel of war.
- 12The rails of a railway.
- 13The actual airline operating a flight, rather than any of the codeshare operators.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how metal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere — an invisible bubble of magnetism generated by the powerful churning of molten metals at Earth’s core.
Etymology
From Middle English metal, a borrowing from Old French metal, from Latin metallum (“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- emtal
- meatl
- metall
- metla
- mettal
- mmetal
- mteal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of metal - 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 "metal"?
What does "metal" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "metal"?
How do you pronounce "metal"?
What is the origin of the word "metal"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "metal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).