person
/ˈpɜː.sən/
"person" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“person” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #257. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #257
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Corpus desk
Index EN-person · person · English
person · rank #257 · 9 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #257
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH nothing
Nearest frequency peer: nothing (-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 “person”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- anything
anything
99,747 corpus weight
- case
case
99,746 corpus weight
- nothing
nothing
99,745 corpus weight
- person
person
99,744 corpus weight
- today
today
99,743 corpus weight
- change
change
99,742 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “person” 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 | person |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɜː.sən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #257 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “person” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around person (IPA /ˈpɜː.sən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #257 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for person, with forms such as "eprson", "perosn", and "perrson". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "peso", "prison", "poison", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄�… The correct English form is person, spelled P-E-R-S-O-N.
Definition
- 1An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 2An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 3An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 4An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 5An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 6An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 7An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
- 8The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
- 9Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
- 10The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
- 11A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.
- 12A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
- 13A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how person appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others; which by Pirac…
“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”
Etymology
From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). In this sense, displaced native man, which came to mean primarily "adult male" in Middle English; see Old English mann. Doublet of parson and persona.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- eprson
- perosn
- perrson
- persno
- personn
- persson
- pesron
- pperson
- preson
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of person - 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.
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
How do you spell "person"?
What does "person" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "person"?
How do you pronounce "person"?
What is the origin of the word "person"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "person", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "person". Here's where to go from here.
- "person" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "peso". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #257 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.