monopoly
/məˈnɒpəli/
"monopoly" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“monopoly” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,070 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,070
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exert...
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 | monopoly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈnɒpəli/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #9,070 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “monopoly” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for monopoly is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /məˈnɒpəli/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,070 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for monopoly, with forms such as "mmonopoly", "mnoopoly", and "monnopoly". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "monotony", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin monopōlium, from Ancient Greek μονοπώλιον (monopṓlion, “a right of exclusive sale”), from μόνος (mónos, “sole”) + πωλέω (pōléō, “I barter, sell”). By surface analysis, mono- + -poly. The correct English form is monopoly, spelled M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y.
Definition
- 1A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.
- 2An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.
- 3The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.
- 4The market thus controlled.
- 5The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the above manners.
Etymology
From Latin monopōlium, from Ancient Greek μονοπώλιον (monopṓlion, “a right of exclusive sale”), from μόνος (mónos, “sole”) + πωλέω (pōléō, “I barter, sell”). By surface analysis, mono- + -poly.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmonopoly,mnoopoly,monnopoly,monooply,monoploy,monopolly,monopolyy,monopoyl,monoppoly,monpooly,moonpoly,omnopoly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of monopoly - 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
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Using “monopoly”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məˈnɒpəli/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “monotony” - see the side-by-side comparison. monopoly vs monotony
- 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.