necropolis
/nɛˈkɹɒpəlɪs/
"necropolis" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“necropolis” is uncommon English (frequency #56,312 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,312
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cemetery; especially a large one in or near a city.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | necropolis |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɛˈkɹɒpəlɪs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #56,312 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “necropolis” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
necropolis is uncommon English at frequency #56,312 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /nɛˈkɹɒpəlɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
necropolis doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Koine Greek νεκρόπολις (nekrópolis, “city of the dead, cemetery”) (used to describe part of the city of Alexandria, Egypt), from Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to disappear; to perish”)) + πό… The correct English form is necropolis, spelled N-E-C-R-O-P-O-L-I-S.
Definition
- 1A cemetery; especially a large one in or near a city.
- 2An ancient site used for burying the dead, particularly if consisting of elaborate grave monuments.
- 3A city or settlement where most people are dead and/or dying.
Etymology
Borrowed from Koine Greek νεκρόπολις (nekrópolis, “city of the dead, cemetery”) (used to describe part of the city of Alexandria, Egypt), from Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to disappear; to perish”)) + πόλις (pólis, “city”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tpelH- (“city; fortification”)). The English word is analysable as necro- + -polis, and is cognate with French nécropole, German Nekropolis, Late Latin necropolis. The plural form necropoleis is derived from Ancient Greek νεκροπόλεις (nekropóleis).
This word in other languages
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 "necropolis"?
What does "necropolis" mean?
How do you pronounce "necropolis"?
What is the origin of the word "necropolis"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “necropolis”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-C-R-O-P-O-L-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /nɛˈkɹɒpəlɪs/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.