panel
/ˈpænəl/
"panel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“panel” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,749 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,749
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A (usually) rectangular section of a surface, or of a covering or of a wall, fence etc.
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 | panel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpænəl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,749 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “panel” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for panel is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpænəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,749 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 20 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for panel, with forms such as "apnel", "paenl", and "panell". 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, "Paul", "pine", "peel", 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 panel (“piece of cloth, saddle pad, pane of glass, piece of ice, part, division, jury list, jury members”), from Anglo-Norman panel, panelle (“piece of cloth, saddle cushion”), from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, diminutive of Latin pannus (“c… The correct English form is panel, spelled P-A-N-E-L.
Definition
- 1A (usually) rectangular section of a surface, or of a covering or of a wall, fence etc.
- 2A (usually) rectangular section of a surface, or of a covering or of a wall, fence etc.
- 3A group of people gathered to judge, interview, discuss etc. as on a television or radio broadcast for example.
- 4A portion of text or other material within a book, newspaper, web page, etc. set apart from the main body or separated by a border.
- 5An individual frame or drawing in a comic.
- 6A type of GUI widget, such as a control panel.
- 7A document containing the names of persons summoned as jurors by the sheriff.
- 8The whole jury.
- 9A prisoner arraigned for trial at the bar of a criminal court.
- 10A piece of cloth serving as a saddle.
- 11A soft pad beneath a saddletree to prevent chafing.
- 12A board having its edges inserted in the groove of a surrounding frame.
- 13One of the faces of a hewn stone.
- 14A slab or plank of wood used instead of a canvas for painting on.
- 15A heap of dressed ore.
- 16One of the districts divided by pillars of extra size, into which a mine is laid off in one system of extracting coal.
- 17A plain strip or band, as of velvet or plush, placed at intervals lengthwise on the skirt of a dress, for ornament.
- 18A portion of a framed structure between adjacent posts or struts, as in a bridge truss.
- 19A list of doctors who could provide limited free healthcare prior to the introduction of the NHS.
- 20A group of tests or assays, a battery.
Etymology
From Middle English panel (“piece of cloth, saddle pad, pane of glass, piece of ice, part, division, jury list, jury members”), from Anglo-Norman panel, panelle (“piece of cloth, saddle cushion”), from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, diminutive of Latin pannus (“cloth, rag, garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“fabric”). Cognate with Old English fana (“a piece of cloth, patch, banner, flag, vane”). Doublet of vane.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apnel,paenl,panell,panle,pannel,pnael,ppanel
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of panel - 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
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Using “panel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-N-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpænəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Paul” - see the side-by-side comparison. panel vs Paul
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.