pax
/pæks/
"pax" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pax” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,655) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #19,655
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A painted, stamped or carved tablet with a representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, which was kissed by the priest during the Mass ("kiss of peace") and then passed to other officiating clergy ...
Corpus desk
Index EN-pax · pax · English
pax · rank #19,655 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,655
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Peabody
Nearest frequency peer: Peabody (+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 “pax”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- orchid
orchid
80,349 corpus weight
- overtake
overtake
80,348 corpus weight
- pax
pax
80,346 corpus weight
- Peabody
Peabody
80,345 corpus weight
- peat
peat
80,344 corpus weight
- pedophile
pedophile
80,343 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pax” 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 | pax |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pæks/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #19,655 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pax” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for pax is neighbouring look-alikes ("PM", "PC", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /pæks/. Frequency #19,655 among 4,417 “P” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
No misspelling variants are generated for pax in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PM", "PC", "PP", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom. The correct English form is pax, spelled P-A-X.
Definition
- 1A painted, stamped or carved tablet with a representation of Christ or the Virgin Mary, which was kissed by the priest during the Mass ("kiss of peace") and then passed to other officiating clergy and the congregation to be kissed. See also osculatory.
- 2Friendship; truce.
- 3The kiss of peace.
- 4A crucifix, a tablet with the image of Christ on the cross upon it, or a reliquary.
- 5Any of several notable periods of peace in human history, particularly owing to unquestionable hegemony on the model of the Pax Romana.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pax appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Fortune is Bardolphs foe, and frownes on him: for he hath ſtolne a Pax, and hanged muſt a be: […] Exeter hath giuen the doome of death, for Pax of little price.
to make pax with someone
Etymology
From Middle English pax and Latin pax (“peace”). Doublet of peace. See peace. As school slang, originally used at Winchester College, Hampshire, in the United Kingdom.
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 "pax", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "pax". Here's where to go from here.
- "pax" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "PM". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #19,655 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.