occipital
/ɒkˈsɪp.ɪt.əl/
"occipital" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“occipital” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,799. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #42,799
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of, pertaining to, or located within or near the occiput (back of the head) or the occipital bone.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | occipital |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɒkˈsɪp.ɪt.əl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #42,799 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “occipital” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around occipital (IPA /ɒkˈsɪp.ɪt.əl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #42,799 among 15,494 “O” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Of, pertaining to, or located within or near the occiput (back of the head) or the occipital bone.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for occipital, with forms such as "cocipital", "occiiptal", and "occipiatl". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowing from Middle French occipital, from Medieval Latin occipitālis, from occiput (“the back of the head, occiput”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent of occiput + -al. Doublet of occipitalis. The correct English form is occipital, spelled O-C-C-I-P-I-T-A-L.
Definition
- 1Of, pertaining to, or located within or near the occiput (back of the head) or the occipital bone.
Etymology
Borrowing from Middle French occipital, from Medieval Latin occipitālis, from occiput (“the back of the head, occiput”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent of occiput + -al. Doublet of occipitalis.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- cocipital
- occiiptal
- occipiatl
- occipitall
- occipitla
- occipittal
- occippital
- occiptial
- occpiital
- ocicpital
- ocipital
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of occipital - 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
How do you spell "occipital"?
What does "occipital" mean?
What are common misspellings of "occipital"?
How do you pronounce "occipital"?
What is the origin of the word "occipital"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “occipital”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-C-C-I-P-I-T-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɒkˈsɪp.ɪt.əl/ (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
Same frequency band
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.