English Word Reference Free

practice

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "practice", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "practice" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "practice" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

practice is aEnglishnoun. It means: Repetition of an activity to improve a skill. Pronounced /ˈpɹæktɪs/. It ranks #931 in English word frequency. Often confused with practise and prentice.

Key facts for practice
PropertyValue
Headwordpractice
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɹæktɪs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#931
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of practice in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for practice is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɹæktɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #931 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for practice, with forms such as "parctice", "ppractice", and "pracctice". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "practise", "prentice", "practices", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is from Middle English practice, practique, practyse, from the verb; also compare Medieval Latin prāctica. The verb is from Middle English practice, practise, practize, practyse, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, alteration of practiquer, fro… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is practice, spelled P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Repetition of an activity to improve a skill.
  2. 2
    An organized event for the purpose of performing such repetition.
  3. 3
    The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.
  4. 4
    A place where a professional service is provided, such as a general practice.
  5. 5
    The observance of religious duties that a church requires of its members.
  6. 6
    A customary action, habit, or behaviour; a manner or routine.
  7. 7
    Actual operation or experiment, in contrast to theory.
  8. 8
    The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts.
  9. 9
    Skilful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; stratagem; artifice.
  10. 10
    An easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English practice, practique, practyse, from the verb; also compare Medieval Latin prāctica. The verb is from Middle English practice, practise, practize, practyse, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, alteration of practiquer, from Medieval Latin prācticāre, from Late Latin prācticus, from Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós). The spelling practice is attested once in Middle English for both the noun and the verb. The noun began to be assimilated in spelling to nouns in -ice; practise (noun) is now obsolete.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: parctice,ppractice,pracctice,pracitce,practcie,practicce,practiec,practtice,pratcice,prcatice,prractice,rpactice

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for practice

Misspelling Variants of "practice"

parctice8ppractice9pracctice9pracitce8practcie8practicce9practiec8practtice9
Misspelling Variants of "practice"

Frequency rank: #931 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "practice"?
"practice" is spelled P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɹæktɪs/.
What does "practice" mean?
As a noun, "practice" means: Repetition of an activity to improve a skill.
What words are commonly confused with "practice"?
"practice" is commonly confused with "practise", "prentice", "practices". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "practice"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "practice" is /ˈpɹæktɪs/. 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 "practice"?
The noun is from Middle English practice, practique, practyse, from the verb; also compare Medieval Latin prāctica. The verb is from Middle English practice, practise, practize, practyse, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, alteration of pract... 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.