MLK

name

"mlk" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“MLK” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #31,260) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#31,260
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of Martin Luther King Jr..

Corpus desk

Index EN-mlk · MLK · English

MLK · rank #31,260 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #31,260
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Mohan

Nearest frequency peer: Mohan (+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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “MLK”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “MLK” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

MLK vs my
0% similar
MLK vs Mr
33% similar
MLK vs MS
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for MLK
PropertyValue
HeadwordMLK
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters3
Frequency rank#31,260
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “MLK”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).MLKlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Mohan” (#31,261), “metallurgy” (#31,258), “mull” (#31,263). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “MLK” is #31,260. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for MLK is neighbouring look-alikes ("my", "Mr", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun. Frequency #31,260 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Initialism of Martin Luther King Jr..".

MLK doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "my", "Mr", "MS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is MLK, spelled M-L-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Initialism of Martin Luther King Jr..

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how MLK appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Our own research suggests that MLK’s “I have a dream” is indeed a “hope booster”.
  2. This rare convergence occurs because MLK Day is always observed on the third Monday in January, while Inauguration Day is constitutionally mandated for January 20.

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 "MLK"?
"MLK" is spelled M-L-K.
What does "MLK" mean?
As a proper noun, "MLK" means: Initialism of Martin Luther King Jr..
What words are commonly confused with "MLK"?
"MLK" is commonly confused with "my", "Mr", "MS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "MLK" come from?
"MLK" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "MLK", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list