personable

/ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/

//ˈpɜːsn̩əbl// adj

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

The verdict

“personable” has 16 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,332. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,332
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
16
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.

Corpus desk

Index EN-personable · personable · English

personable · rank #42,332 · 16 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #42,332
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 16 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH personalize

Nearest frequency peer: personalize (+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 “personable”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “personable” 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).

personable vs personal
80% similar
personable vs personals
80% similar
personable vs personally
80% similar

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

Key facts for personable
PropertyValue
Headwordpersonable
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/
Letters10
Frequency rank#42,332
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “personable”

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).personablelands 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 “personalize” (#42,333), “perturbed” (#42,334), “peacemaker” (#42,328). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “personable” is #42,332. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 16 spelling variants around personable (IPA /ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #42,332 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for personable, with forms such as "eprsonable", "perosnable", and "perrsonable". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "personal", "personals", "personally", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following: * For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in Old Frenc… The correct English form is personable, spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-A-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.
  2. 2
    Of a person: having a pleasant manner; amiable, friendly.
  3. 3
    Synonym of personal (“done in person, without an intermediary”).
  4. 4
    Being a legal person and thus able to maintain a plea in court, or to hold some property or right.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I vvas Tall and Perſonable, but a little too ſmooth Fac'd for a Man; hovvever as I ſeldom vvent Abroad, but in the Night it did vvell enough; […]
  2. I admit him a personable man, for I have seen him; and I will suppose him courteous and agreeable.

Etymology

From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following: * For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in Old French or Medieval Latin), probably from person, personne, persoun (“individual, person”) + -āble (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’ forming adjectives). * For sense 3.1 (“synonym of personal”) and sense 3.2 (“being a legal person”), from Middle French personable and Old French personable, and from their etymon Medieval Latin personābilis (“personal”), possibly from Medieval Latin persōna (“person”) + Latin -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’). By surface analysis, person + -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant or suitable to’).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eprsonable
  • perosnable
  • perrsonable
  • persnoable
  • persoanble
  • personabble
  • personabel
  • personablle
  • personalbe
  • personbale
  • personible
  • personnable
  • perssonable
  • pesronable
  • ppersonable
  • presonable

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

eprsonable2perosnable2perrsonable1persnoable2persoanble2personabble1personabel2personablle1
Edit distance from "personable"

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 "personable"?
"personable" is spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-A-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/.
What does "personable" mean?
As an adjective, "personable" means: Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.
What words are commonly confused with "personable"?
"personable" is commonly confused with "personal", "personals", "personally". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "personable"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "personable" is /ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/. 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 "personable"?
From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following: * For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in... 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 "personable", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list