Oedipus
/ˈɛdɪpəs/
"oedipus" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Oedipus” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,210. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #34,210
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A son of Laius and Jocasta, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.
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 | Oedipus |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛdɪpəs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #34,210 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Oedipus” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around Oedipus (IPA /ˈɛdɪpəs/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #34,210 among 15,494 “O” headwords. Dominant gloss: "A son of Laius and Jocasta, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Oedipus, with forms such as "eodipus", "odeipus", and "oeddipus". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "odious", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the Latin Oedipus, from the Ancient Greek Οἰδίπους (Oidípous, “swollen foot”). The correct English form is Oedipus, spelled O-E-D-I-P-U-S.
Definition
- 1A son of Laius and Jocasta, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.
Etymology
From the Latin Oedipus, from the Ancient Greek Οἰδίπους (Oidípous, “swollen foot”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- eodipus
- odeipus
- oeddipus
- oedippus
- oedipsu
- oedipuss
- oediups
- oedpius
- oeidpus
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Oedipus - 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 "Oedipus"?
What does "Oedipus" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Oedipus"?
How do you pronounce "Oedipus"?
What is the origin of the word "Oedipus"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Oedipus”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-E-D-I-P-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɛdɪpəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “odious” - see the side-by-side comparison. Oedipus vs odious
- 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.