pillage
/ˈpɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/
"pillage" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pillage” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #39,028. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #39,028
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pillage · pillage · English
pillage · rank #39,028 · 8 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-MID #39,028
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Pil
Nearest frequency peer: Pil (-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 “pillage”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- permeable
permeable
60,976 corpus weight
- personhood
personhood
60,975 corpus weight
- Pil
Pil
60,974 corpus weight
- pillage
pillage
60,973 corpus weight
- pistachio
pistachio
60,972 corpus weight
- planing
planing
60,971 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pillage” 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 | pillage |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈpɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #39,028 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pillage” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around pillage (IPA /ˈpɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #39,028 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pillage, with forms such as "ipllage", "pilage", and "pilalge". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "pillar", "pillars", "Pilate", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”). The correct English form is pillage, spelled P-I-L-L-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how pillage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued, Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.
Etymology
From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ipllage
- pilage
- pilalge
- pillaeg
- pillagge
- pillgae
- plilage
- ppillage
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pillage - 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.
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
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What does "pillage" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pillage", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "pillage". Here's where to go from here.
- "pillage" maps to 3 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "pillar". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #39,028 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.