perjury
/ˈpɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒəɹi/
"perjury" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“perjury” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,415 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,415
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The deliberate giving of false or misleading testimony under oath.
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 | perjury |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒəɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #19,415 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “perjury” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for perjury is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒəɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,415 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The deliberate giving of false or misleading testimony under oath.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for perjury, with forms such as "eprjury", "pejrury", and "perjjury". 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, "perry", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman perjurie, from Latin perjūrāre (“swear falsely”), from per- + jūrāre. Displaced native Old English mānāþ (literally “false oath”). The correct English form is perjury, spelled P-E-R-J-U-R-Y.
Definition
- 1The deliberate giving of false or misleading testimony under oath.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman perjurie, from Latin perjūrāre (“swear falsely”), from per- + jūrāre. Displaced native Old English mānāþ (literally “false oath”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprjury,pejrury,perjjury,perjruy,perjurry,perjuryy,perjuyr,perrjury,perujry,pperjury,prejury
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of perjury - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “perjury”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-J-U-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒəɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “perry” - see the side-by-side comparison. perjury vs perry
- 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.