pre-eminence

noun

"pre-eminence" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pre-eminence” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative spelling of preeminence.

Corpus desk

Index EN-pre-eminence · pre-eminence · English

pre-eminence · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for pre-eminence
PropertyValue
Headwordpre-eminence
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “pre-eminence” in English

pre-eminencefalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pre-eminence is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of preeminence.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pre-eminence, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is pre-eminence, spelled P-R-E---E-M-I-N-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of preeminence.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. And being always with her, and always talking confidentially, and his feelings exactly in that favourable state which a recent disappointment gives, those soft light eyes could not be very long in obtaining the pre-eminence.
  2. While the Deutsche Bundesbahn has not reattained the pre-eminence in European railway speed that the German railways enjoyed before the 1939-1945 war, speeds in that country are steadily moving upwards [...].

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pre-eminence"?
"pre-eminence" is spelled P-R-E---E-M-I-N-E-N-C-E.
What does "pre-eminence" mean?
As a noun, "pre-eminence" means: Alternative spelling of preeminence.
What language does "pre-eminence" come from?
"pre-eminence" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list