Montreal
/ˌmɒntɹiˈɔːl/
"montreal" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Montreal” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,381 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #6,381
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
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 | Montreal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˌmɒntɹiˈɔːl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,381 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Montreal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Montreal is 8 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌmɒntɹiˈɔːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,381 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 17 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 Montreal, with forms such as "mmontreal", "mnotreal", and "monntreal". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Montreux", "mongrel", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French Montréal; from Mont Royal (“Mount Royal”) (mont + royal), after the nearby hill by Jacques Cartier. It is uncertain how Royal became -real. A common explanation is that real is the Middle French form of Royal, but Cartier himself recorded le mon… The correct English form is Montreal, spelled M-O-N-T-R-E-A-L.
Definition
- 1A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 2A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 3A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 4A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 5A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 6A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 7A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 8A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 9A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 10A place in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint-Lawrence Rivers
- 11A river in Algoma and Sudbury districts, Ontario, Canada.
- 12A river in Timiskaming district, Ontario, Canada.
- 13A river in No. 18, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- 14An unincorporated community in Camden County, Missouri, United States.
- 15A small city in Iron County, Wisconsin, United States.
- 16A river on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, United States.
- 17A river in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States.
Etymology
From French Montréal; from Mont Royal (“Mount Royal”) (mont + royal), after the nearby hill by Jacques Cartier. It is uncertain how Royal became -real. A common explanation is that real is the Middle French form of Royal, but Cartier himself recorded le mont Royal when he named it. It may have perhaps been from the Italian G.B. Rasmusio's 1556 map translating the name to Italian Monte Real.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmontreal,mnotreal,monntreal,monrteal,monteral,montrael,montreall,montrela,montrreal,monttreal,motnreal,omntreal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Montreal - 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 "Montreal"?
What does "Montreal" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Montreal"?
How do you pronounce "Montreal"?
What is the origin of the word "Montreal"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Montreal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-N-T-R-E-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌmɒntɹiˈɔːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Montreux” - see the side-by-side comparison. Montreal vs Montreux
- 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.