polemical
/pəˈlɛmɪkəl/
"polemical" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“polemical” is an uncommon English word, ranked #53,784 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #53,784
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Related to argument or controversy; containing polemic, being polemic.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | polemical |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /pəˈlɛmɪkəl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #53,784 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “polemical” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for polemical is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈlɛmɪkəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #53,784 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for polemical, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From polemic + -al. By surface analysis, polem- + -ic + -al. The correct English form is polemical, spelled P-O-L-E-M-I-C-A-L.
Definition
- 1Related to argument or controversy; containing polemic, being polemic.
- 2Related to argument or controversy; containing polemic, being polemic.
Etymology
From polemic + -al. By surface analysis, polem- + -ic + -al.
This word in other languages
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 “polemical”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-L-E-M-I-C-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈlɛmɪkəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.