municipal
/mjuˈnɪsɪpəl/
"municipal" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“municipal” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,778 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #4,778
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or pertaining to a municipality (a city or a corporation having the right of administering local government).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | municipal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /mjuˈnɪsɪpəl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #4,778 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “municipal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for municipal is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mjuˈnɪsɪpəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,778 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for municipal, with forms such as "mmunicipal", "mnuicipal", and "muincipal". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French municipal, from Latin mūnicipālis (“of or belonging to a citizen or a free town”), from mūniceps (“a citizen, an inhabitant of a free town”), from mūnus (“duty”) + capiō (“to take”). The correct English form is municipal, spelled M-U-N-I-C-I-P-A-L.
Definition
- 1Of or pertaining to a municipality (a city or a corporation having the right of administering local government).
- 2Of or pertaining to the internal affairs of a nation.
Etymology
Borrowed from French municipal, from Latin mūnicipālis (“of or belonging to a citizen or a free town”), from mūniceps (“a citizen, an inhabitant of a free town”), from mūnus (“duty”) + capiō (“to take”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmunicipal,mnuicipal,muincipal,munciipal,municcipal,municiapl,municipall,municipla,municippal,municpial,muniicpal,munnicipal,umnicipal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of municipal - 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
How do you spell "municipal"?
What does "municipal" mean?
What are common misspellings of "municipal"?
How do you pronounce "municipal"?
What is the origin of the word "municipal"?
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Using “municipal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-U-N-I-C-I-P-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /mjuˈnɪsɪpəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.