musical

/ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/

//ˈmju.zɪ.kəl// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"musical" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“musical” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,955. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,955
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of, belonging or relating to music, or to its performance or notation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-musical · musical · English

musical · rank #2,955 · 10 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,955
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH lock

Nearest frequency peer: lock (-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 “musical”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “musical” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

musical vs musician
75% similar
musical vs mystical
75% similar
musical vs musically
78% similar

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

Key facts for musical
PropertyValue
Headwordmusical
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/
Letters7
Frequency rank#2,955
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “musical”

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).musicallands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “lock” (#2,954), “nose” (#2,956), “loans” (#2,953). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “musical” is #2,955. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around musical (IPA /ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #2,955 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for musical, with forms such as "mmusical", "msuical", and "muiscal". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "musician", "mystical", "musically", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English musical, from Old French [Term?], from Medieval Latin mūsicālis, from Latin mūsica (“music”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives); equivalent to music + -al. The correct English form is musical, spelled M-U-S-I-C-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of, belonging or relating to music, or to its performance or notation.
  2. 2
    Pleasing to the ear; sounding agreeably; having the qualities of music; melodious; harmonious.
  3. 3
    Fond of music; discriminating with regard to music; gifted or skilled in music.
  4. 4
    Pertaining to a class of games in which players move while music plays, but have to take a fixed position when it stops; by extension, any situation where people repeatedly change positions.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. musical proportion
  2. musical instruments

Etymology

From Middle English musical, from Old French [Term?], from Medieval Latin mūsicālis, from Latin mūsica (“music”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives); equivalent to music + -al.

This word in other languages

musical(Español)musical(Français)musikalisch(Deutsch)musical(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmusical
  • msuical
  • muiscal
  • muscial
  • musiacl
  • musicall
  • musiccal
  • musicla
  • mussical
  • umsical

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of musical - 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.

mmusical1msuical2muiscal2muscial2musiacl2musicall1musiccal1musicla2
Edit distance from "musical"

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 "musical"?
"musical" is spelled M-U-S-I-C-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/.
What does "musical" mean?
As an adjective, "musical" means: Of, belonging or relating to music, or to its performance or notation.
What words are commonly confused with "musical"?
"musical" is commonly confused with "musician", "mystical", "musically". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "musical"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "musical" is /ˈmju.zɪ.kəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "musical"?
From Middle English musical, from Old French [Term?], from Medieval Latin mūsicālis, from Latin mūsica (“music”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives); equivalent to music + -al. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "musical", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

objects#2,957opposed#2,958plastic#2,960injured#2,948

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

exposed10 variantsapproval10 variantscontain10 variantsadopted10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list