political

/pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/

//pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"political" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“political” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #517 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.

#517
frequency rank, English
9
letters
13
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

political vs politics
78% similar
political vs politico
78% similar
political vs politician
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for political
PropertyValue
Headwordpolitical
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/
Letters9
Frequency rank#517
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “political” sits in English frequency

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

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for political is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #517 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 5 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 political, with forms such as "oplitical", "ploitical", and "poiltical". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "politics", "politico", "politician", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From politic + -al. The correct English form is political, spelled P-O-L-I-T-I-C-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing.
  2. 2
    Concerning a polity or its administrative components.
  3. 3
    Inappropriately motivated by political calculation, as it pertains to elections, power dynamics, ideologies, etc.
  4. 4
    Of or relating to views about social relationships that involve power, standing, influence or conflict.
  5. 5
    Interested in politics.

Etymology

From politic + -al.

Synonyms

politic

Antonyms

nonpoliticalnon-political

This word in other languages

político(Español)politique(Français)politisch(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: oplitical,ploitical,poiltical,poliitcal,politcial,politiacl,politicall,politiccal,politicla,polittical,pollitical,poltiical,ppolitical

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of political - 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.

oplitical2ploitical2poiltical2poliitcal2politcial2politiacl2politicall1politiccal1
Edit distance from "political"

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 "political"?
"political" is spelled P-O-L-I-T-I-C-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/.
What does "political" mean?
As an adjective, "political" means: Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing.
What words are commonly confused with "political"?
"political" is commonly confused with "politics", "politico", "politician". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "political"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "political" is /pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/. 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 "political"?
From politic + -al. 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.

Using “political”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-O-L-I-T-I-C-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /pəˈlɪt.ɪ.kəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “politics” - see the side-by-side comparison. political vs politics
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list