policeman
/pəˈliːsmən/
"policeman" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“policeman” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,591 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,591
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A police officer, usually a male.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | policeman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈliːsmən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #10,591 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “policeman” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for policeman is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈliːsmən/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,591 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for policeman, with forms such as "opliceman", "ploiceman", and "poilceman". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From police + -man. The correct English form is policeman, spelled P-O-L-I-C-E-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A police officer, usually a male.
- 2A glass rod capped at one end with rubber, used in a chemistry laboratory for gravimetric analysis.
- 3Any skipper of the genus Coeliades.
- 4Synonym of enforcer.
Etymology
From police + -man.
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opliceman,ploiceman,poilceman,polcieman,policceman,policeamn,policemann,policemman,policemna,policmean,poliecman,polliceman,ppoliceman
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of policeman - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "policeman"?
What does "policeman" mean?
What are common misspellings of "policeman"?
How do you pronounce "policeman"?
What is the origin of the word "policeman"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “policeman”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-L-I-C-E-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈliːsmən/ (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.