pleasure
/ˈplɛʒə/
"pleasure" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pleasure” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,639 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,639
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.
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 | pleasure |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈplɛʒə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #2,639 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pleasure” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pleasure is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈplɛʒə/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,639 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for pleasure, with forms such as "lpeasure", "pelasure", and "plaesure". 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, "pressure", "pleasures", "please", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin place… The correct English form is pleasure, spelled P-L-E-A-S-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.
- 2A person, thing or action that causes enjoyment.
- 3Sexual enjoyment.
- 4One's preference.
- 5The will or desire of someone or some agency in power.
Etymology
From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lpeasure,pelasure,plaesure,pleasrue,pleassure,pleasuer,pleasurre,pleausre,plesaure,plleasure,ppleasure
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pleasure - 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 “pleasure”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-L-E-A-S-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈplɛʒə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pressure” - see the side-by-side comparison. pleasure vs pressure
- 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.