picture

/ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/

//ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə// noun

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

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

The verdict

“picture” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #777. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#777
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-picture · picture · English

picture · rank #777 · 10 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #777
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH p

Nearest frequency peer: p (-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 “picture”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “picture” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

picture vs posture
71% similar
picture vs pictures
88% similar
picture vs puncture
75% similar

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

Key facts for picture
PropertyValue
Headwordpicture
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/
Letters7
Frequency rank#777
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “picture” sits in English frequency

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).picturelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “p” (#776), “size” (#778), “model” (#775). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around picture (IPA /ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #777 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for picture, with forms such as "ipcture", "pciture", and "piccture". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "posture", "pictures", "puncture", 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 pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“to paint”). Doublet of pictura. The correct English form is picture, spelled P-I-C-T-U-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
  2. 2
    An image; a representation as in the imagination.
  3. 3
    A painting.
  4. 4
    A photograph.
  5. 5
    A motion picture.
  6. 6
    ("the pictures") Cinema (as a form of entertainment).
  7. 7
    A paragon, a perfect example or specimen (of a category).
  8. 8
    An attractive sight.
  9. 9
    The art of painting; representation by painting.
  10. 10
    A figure; a model.
  11. 11
    Situation.
  12. 12
    A sample of an illegal drug.
  13. 13
    A format string in the COBOL programming language.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.[…]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
  2. Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.

Etymology

From Middle English pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“to paint”). Doublet of pictura.

Synonyms

imagepicture

This word in other languages

imagen(Español)image(Français)Bild(Deutsch)figura(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipcture
  • pciture
  • piccture
  • pictrue
  • pictture
  • pictuer
  • picturre
  • picutre
  • pitcure
  • ppicture

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ipcture2pciture2piccture1pictrue2pictture1pictuer2picturre1picutre2
Edit distance from "picture"

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 "picture"?
"picture" is spelled P-I-C-T-U-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/.
What does "picture" mean?
As a noun, "picture" means: A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "picture"?
"picture" is commonly confused with "posture", "pictures", "puncture". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "picture"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "picture" is /ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/. 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 "picture"?
From Middle English pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“to paint”). Doublet of pictura. 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 "picture", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

central#782changes#783England#784feeling#769

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

federal10 variantsreading10 variantsfootball10 variantshaven't10 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "picture". Here's where to go from here.

  • "picture" maps to 4 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "posture". View pair
  • 10 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #777 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list