pancake
/ˈpæn.keɪk/
"pancake" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pancake” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,388. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,388
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter; in particular:
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 | pancake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpæn.keɪk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #18,388 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pancake” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around pancake (IPA /ˈpæn.keɪk/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,388 among 46,516 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for pancake, with forms such as "apncake", "pacnake", and "panacke". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "partake", "pancakes", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē)bor. Latin patina Late Latin pannabor. Proto-Germanic *pannǭ Proto-West Germanic *pannā Old English panne Middle English panne Proto-Germanic *kakǭ Old Norse kakabor. Middle English cake Middle Engl… The correct English form is pancake, spelled P-A-N-C-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter; in particular:
- 2A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter; in particular:
- 3A kind of makeup, consisting of a thick layer of a compressed powder.
- 4A type of throw, usually with a ring where the prop is thrown in such a way that it rotates round an axis of the diameter of the prop.
- 5Anything very thin and flat.
- 6Composite leather made of scraps, glue and board, by extension of (4), material originally used for insoles, but later used also for heels and even soles.
- 7A box on which an actor stands to make them appear taller.
- 8A defensive play in which the ball bounces off the top of a hand that has been pressed flat against the floor.
- 9An attractive young woman.
Etymology
Etymology tree Pre-Greekder.? Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē)bor. Latin patina Late Latin pannabor. Proto-Germanic *pannǭ Proto-West Germanic *pannā Old English panne Middle English panne Proto-Germanic *kakǭ Old Norse kakabor. Middle English cake Middle English panne cake English pancake Inherited from Middle English pancake, panne cake, pankake, ponkake. By surface analysis, pan + cake. Perhaps adapted from Middle Low German pankôke, pannekôke, from Old Saxon *pannakōko (suggested by derivatives Old Saxon pannakōkilo and pannakōkilīn), where the compound is much older; compare Old High German phankuohho (8th century), whence Middle High German phankuoche, German Pfannkuchen (“pancake”); further Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke (“pancake”), West Frisian pankoek (“pancake”), Dutch pannenkoek (“pancake”), German Low German Pannkook (“pancake”). The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apncake,pacnake,panacke,pancaek,pancakke,panccake,panckae,panncake,pnacake,ppancake
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pancake - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pancake"?
What does "pancake" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pancake"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pancake”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-N-C-A-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæn.keɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “partake” - see the side-by-side comparison. pancake vs partake
- 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.