pedophilia

/ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/

//ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"pedophilia" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pedophilia” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #25,521. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#25,521
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pedophilia · pedophilia · English

pedophilia · rank #25,521 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #25,521
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Payton

Nearest frequency peer: Payton (-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 “pedophilia”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “pedophilia” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pedophilia vs pedophile
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pedophilia
PropertyValue
Headwordpedophilia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/
Letters10
Frequency rank#25,521
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “pedophilia”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).pedophilialands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Payton” (#25,520), “peed” (#25,522), “Paulie” (#25,519). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pedophilia” is #25,521. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around pedophilia (IPA /ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #25,521 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for pedophilia, with forms such as "epdophilia", "pdeophilia", and "peddophilia". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "pedophile", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Byzantine Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”). The correct English form is pedophilia, spelled P-E-D-O-P-H-I-L-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.
  2. 2
    Sexual activity between adults and children; the act of child molestation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pedophilia appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. As noted earlier, pedophilia was cited as both an aggravating and a mitigating circumstance by trial judges, as was the absence of pedophilia.
  2. Sometimes a man with pedophilia is content to stroke the child's hair, but he may also manipulate the child's genitalia, [...]

Etymology

Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Byzantine Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”).

This word in other languages

pedofilia(Español)pédophilie(Français)Pädophilie(Deutsch)pedofilia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epdophilia
  • pdeophilia
  • peddophilia
  • pedohpilia
  • pedophhilia
  • pedophiila
  • pedophilai
  • pedophillia
  • pedophliia
  • pedopihlia
  • pedopphilia
  • pedpohilia
  • peodphilia
  • ppedophilia

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pedophilia - 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.

epdophilia2pdeophilia2peddophilia1pedohpilia2pedophhilia1pedophiila2pedophilai2pedophillia1
Edit distance from "pedophilia"

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 "pedophilia"?
"pedophilia" is spelled P-E-D-O-P-H-I-L-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/.
What does "pedophilia" mean?
As a noun, "pedophilia" means: Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.
What words are commonly confused with "pedophilia"?
"pedophilia" is commonly confused with "pedophile". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pedophilia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pedophilia" is /ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "pedophilia"?
Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Byzantine Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pedophilia", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

palliative#25,513overthrown#25,511mozzarella#25,488schoolgirl#25,565

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

Pendleton14 variantspseudonym14 variantspurgatory14 variantsrestarted14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list