people

/ˈpi.pəl/

//ˈpi.pəl// noun

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

"people" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“people” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #66. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#66
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - plural of person: a body of persons considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.

Corpus desk

Index EN-people · people · English

people · rank #66 · 8 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #66
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH new

Nearest frequency peer: new (-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 “people”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “people” 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).

people vs pope
67% similar
people vs pole
67% similar
people vs Pepe
50% similar

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

Key facts for people
PropertyValue
Headwordpeople
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpi.pəl/
Letters6
Frequency rank#66
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “people”

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).peoplelands 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 “new” (#65), “how” (#67), “she” (#64). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “people” is #66. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around people (IPA /ˈpi.pəl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #66 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for people, with forms such as "epople", "peolpe", and "peopel". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "pope", "pole", "Pepe", 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 puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of … The correct English form is people, spelled P-E-O-P-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    plural of person: a body of persons considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.
  2. 2
    Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.
  3. 3
    A group of persons regarded as being servants, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler or leader.
  4. 4
    One's colleagues or employees.
  5. 5
    A person's ancestors, relatives or family.
  6. 6
    The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.
  7. 7
    People in general, humans, by extension sentient beings real or fictional.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. There were so many people at the restaurant last night.
  2. These six people are waiting for the bus.

Etymology

From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Doublet of pueblo. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk. Originally used with singular verbs (e.g. "the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness" in the King James Version of 2 Samuel 17:29), the plural aspect of people is probably due to influence from Middle English lede, leed, a plural since Old English times; see lēode.

This word in other languages

gente(Español)gens(Français)Leute(Deutsch)gente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • epople
  • peolpe
  • peopel
  • peoplle
  • peopple
  • pepole
  • poeple
  • ppeople

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

epople2peolpe2peopel2peoplle1peopple1pepole2poeple2ppeople1
Edit distance from "people"

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 "people"?
"people" is spelled P-E-O-P-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpi.pəl/.
What does "people" mean?
As a noun, "people" means: plural of person: a body of persons considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.
What words are commonly confused with "people"?
"people" is commonly confused with "pope", "pole", "Pepe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "people"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "people" is /ˈpi.pəl/. 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 "people"?
From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“... 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 "people", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

should#109really#113before#123you're#140

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

which8 variantsfirst8 variantsthink8 variantsright8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list