penalty

/ˈpɛn.əl.ti/

//ˈpɛn.əl.ti// noun

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

"penalty" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“penalty” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,322. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,322
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A legal sentence.

Corpus desk

Index EN-penalty · penalty · English

penalty · rank #3,322 · 11 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,322
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH passes

Nearest frequency peer: passes (-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 “penalty”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “penalty” 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).

penalty vs Peralta
57% similar
penalty vs penal
71% similar

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

Key facts for penalty
PropertyValue
Headwordpenalty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɛn.əl.ti/
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,322
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “penalty”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).penaltylands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “passes” (#3,321), “pet” (#3,323), “palace” (#3,320). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “penalty” is #3,322. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around penalty (IPA /ˈpɛn.əl.ti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,322 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for penalty, with forms such as "epnalty", "peanlty", and "penallty". 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, "Peralta", "penal", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowing of Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂, comprising *kʷey- + *-néh₂. The correct English form is penalty, spelled P-E-N-A-L-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A legal sentence.
  2. 2
    A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
  3. 3
    A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
  4. 4
    In sports:
  5. 5
    In sports:
  6. 6
    A disadvantageous consequence of a previous event.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
  2. Was it so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping?

Etymology

From Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowing of Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂, comprising *kʷey- + *-néh₂.

Synonyms

censurecorrectiondisciplinepenaltypunishmentpunitionsanctionsentence

Antonyms

compensationreward

This word in other languages

pena(Español)penalisation(Français)Strafe(Deutsch)penalidade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epnalty
  • peanlty
  • penallty
  • penaltty
  • penaltyy
  • penalyt
  • penatly
  • penlaty
  • pennalty
  • pnealty
  • ppenalty

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of penalty - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

epnalty2peanlty2penallty1penaltty1penaltyy1penalyt2penatly2penlaty2
Edit distance from "penalty"

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 "penalty"?
"penalty" is spelled P-E-N-A-L-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɛn.əl.ti/.
What does "penalty" mean?
As a noun, "penalty" means: A legal sentence.
What words are commonly confused with "penalty"?
"penalty" is commonly confused with "Peralta", "penal". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "penalty"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "penalty" is /ˈpɛn.əl.ti/. 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 "penalty"?
From Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowing of Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂, comprising *kʷey- + *-néh₂. 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 "penalty", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mystery#3,317protest#3,327formula#3,301unusual#3,343

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

awareness11 variantsexposure11 variantscharity11 variantsfeatured11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list