palsy
/ˈpɔːlzi/
"palsy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“palsy” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #22,462. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #22,462
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.
Corpus desk
Index EN-palsy · palsy · English
palsy · rank #22,462 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #22,462
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Oxfordshire
Nearest frequency peer: Oxfordshire (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “palsy”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- organisatio…
organisational
77,541 corpus weight
- Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
77,540 corpus weight
- palsy
palsy
77,539 corpus weight
- Paralympics
Paralympics
77,538 corpus weight
- paramilitary
paramilitary
77,537 corpus weight
- partridge
partridge
77,536 corpus weight
What this shows “palsy” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | palsy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɔːlzi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #22,462 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “palsy”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around palsy (IPA /ˈpɔːlzi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #22,462 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for palsy, with forms such as "aplsy", "pallsy", and "palssy". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pay", "pas", "ply", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English palesie, from Anglo-Norman paralisie, parleisie et al., from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + λύω (lúō, “loosen”). Double… The correct English form is palsy, spelled P-A-L-S-Y.
Definition
- 1Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how palsy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The palsie plagues my pulses when I prigg yoͬ: piggs or pullen your culuers take, or matchles make your Chanticleare or sullen
"Young lady, there is no hope; one side of the Duchesse is struck with palsy; she retains her senses, and will, most probably, to the last; but she cannot live through the night."
Etymology
From Middle English palesie, from Anglo-Norman paralisie, parleisie et al., from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + λύω (lúō, “loosen”). Doublet of paralysis.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aplsy
- pallsy
- palssy
- palsyy
- pasly
- ppalsy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of palsy - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "palsy", 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 (6 here; floor ≥5).