pagan
/ˈpeɪɡən/
"pagan" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pagan” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,780. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #13,780
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pagan · pagan · English
pagan · rank #13,780 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #13,780
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH paced
Nearest frequency peer: paced (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “pagan”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- overlapping
overlapping
86,225 corpus weight
- paced
paced
86,222 corpus weight
- pagan
pagan
86,221 corpus weight
- painters
painters
86,220 corpus weight
- planetary
planetary
86,218 corpus weight
- playboy
playboy
86,217 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pagan” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | pagan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpeɪɡən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #13,780 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pagan” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around pagan (IPA /ˈpeɪɡən/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #13,780 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for pagan, with forms such as "apgan", "paagn", and "pagann". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Pan", "PGA", "plan", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pagan (adjective and noun), from Latin pāgānus (“rural, rustic; civilian”), replaced Middle English payen from the same root. The meaning “not Christian” arose in Vulgar Latin, probably from the 4th century, owing to the Roman countrysid… The correct English form is pagan, spelled P-A-G-A-N.
Definition
- 1Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions.
- 2Savage, immoral, uncivilized, wild.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pagan appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Under Christianization, many converted societies transformed their pagan deities into saints.
Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that typically takes on anti-Christian, satanic and pagan themes.
Etymology
From Middle English pagan (adjective and noun), from Latin pāgānus (“rural, rustic; civilian”), replaced Middle English payen from the same root. The meaning “not Christian” arose in Vulgar Latin, probably from the 4th century, owing to the Roman countryside being largely non-Christian, or potentially from the “civilian” meaning—denoting those not in the “army of Christ”. As a self-designation of neopagans, attested since 1990. Partly displaced native heathen, from Old English hǣþen.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- apgan
- paagn
- pagann
- paggan
- pagna
- pgaan
- ppagan
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pagan - 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.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pagan", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "pagan". Here's where to go from here.
- "pagan" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Pan". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #13,780 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.