nominal
/ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/
"nominal" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nominal” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,025 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #13,025
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names.
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 | nominal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #13,025 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nominal” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nominal is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,025 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for nominal, with forms such as "nmoinal", "nnominal", and "noimnal". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "nominee", "nominate", "notional", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₁nómn̥ From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), from nōmen (“name”). The correct English form is nominal, spelled N-O-M-I-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Of, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a name or names.
- 2Assigned to or bearing a person's name.
- 3Existing in name only.
- 4Of or relating to nominalism.
- 5Insignificantly small.
- 6Of or relating to the presumed or approximate value, rather than the actual value.
- 7Of, relating to, or being the amount or face value of a sum of money or a stock certificate, for example, and not the purchasing power or market value.
- 8Of, relating to, or being the rate of interest or return without adjustment for compounding or inflation.
- 9Of or relating to a noun or word group that functions as a noun.
- 10According to plan or design.
- 11Without adjustment to remove the effects of inflation.
- 12Having values whose order is insignificant.
- 13Of a species, the species name without consideration of whether it is a junior synonym or in reality consists of more than one biological species.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁nómn̥ From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), from nōmen (“name”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: nmoinal,nnominal,noimnal,nomianl,nominall,nominla,nominnal,nomminal,nomnial,onminal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nominal - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “nominal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-O-M-I-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɒm.ɪ.nl̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “nominee” - see the side-by-side comparison. nominal vs nominee
- 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.