policeman

Name: policeman, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/pəˈliːsmən/

//pəˈliːsmən// noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“policeman” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,591. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,591
frequency rank, English: 4,417
“P” headwords: 13
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A police officer, usually a male.

Corpus desk

Index EN-policeman · policeman · English

policeman · rank #10,591 · 13 variants · 0 confusables

FREQ-MID #10,591
LEN-LONG 9 letters
VOW-4 4 vowels
CONFUS-0 No pairs
VAR-HIGH 13 variants
BOOK-MID 4,417
PHOTO-FINISH pneumonia

Nearest frequency peer: pneumonia (-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.

Payne

89,413
phenomena

89,412
pneumonia

89,411
policeman

89,410
potent

89,408
preceding

89,407

What this shows “policeman” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Key facts for policeman
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)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “policeman”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).policemanlands here:

#10,591

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “pneumonia” (#10,590), “phenomena” (#10,589), “potent” (#10,593). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “policeman” is #10,591. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around policeman (IPA /pəˈliːsmən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,591 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

1
A police officer, usually a male.
2
A glass rod capped at one end with rubber, used in a chemistry laboratory for gravimetric analysis.
3
Any skipper of the genus Coeliades.
4
Synonym of enforcer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

The policeman who arrests the "Red" does not understand the theories the "Red" is preaching; if he did, his own position as bodyguard of the monied class might seem less pleasant to him.
Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

Etymology

From police + -man.

Synonyms

police officerrubber policeman

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.

Edit distance from "policeman"

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"?

"policeman" is spelled P-O-L-I-C-E-M-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈliːsmən/.

What does "policeman" mean?

As a noun, "policeman" means: A police officer, usually a male.

What are common misspellings of "policeman"?

Common misspellings include "opliceman", "ploiceman", "poilceman", "polcieman", "policceman". The correct spelling is "policeman".

How do you pronounce "policeman"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "policeman" is /pəˈliːsmən/. 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 "policeman"?

From police + -man. 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 "policeman", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pneumonia#10,590 phenomena#10,589 preceding#10,594 storyline#10,613

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

scrutiny13 variants Kingston13 variants systemic13 variants ironically13 variants