prevailed

/pɹɪˈveɪld/

//pɹɪˈveɪld// verb

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

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

The verdict

“prevailed” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #17,001. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,001
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of prevail

Corpus desk

Index EN-prevailed · prevailed · English

prevailed · rank #17,001 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #17,001
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH proactive

Nearest frequency peer: proactive (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “prevailed”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

prevailed vs prevail
78% similar

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

Key facts for prevailed
PropertyValue
Headwordprevailed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/pɹɪˈveɪld/
Letters9
Frequency rank#17,001
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “prevailed”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).prevailedlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “proactive” (#17,002), “postwar” (#16,999), “prob” (#17,003). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “prevailed” is #17,001. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around prevailed (IPA /pɹɪˈveɪld/), averb. Corpus frequency is #17,001 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of prevail".

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for prevailed, with forms such as "pervailed", "pprevailed", and "preaviled". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "prevail", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is prevailed, spelled P-R-E-V-A-I-L-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of prevail

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pervailed
  • pprevailed
  • preaviled
  • prevaield
  • prevailde
  • prevailedd
  • prevailled
  • prevalied
  • previaled
  • prevvailed
  • prrevailed
  • prveailed
  • rpevailed

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

pervailed2pprevailed1preaviled2prevaield2prevailde2prevailedd1prevailled1prevalied2
Edit distance from "prevailed"

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 "prevailed"?
"prevailed" is spelled P-R-E-V-A-I-L-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /pɹɪˈveɪld/.
What does "prevailed" mean?
As a verb, "prevailed" means: simple past and past participle of prevail
What words are commonly confused with "prevailed"?
"prevailed" is commonly confused with "prevail". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prevailed"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prevailed" is /pɹɪˈveɪld/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prevailed" come from?
"prevailed" 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prevailed", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

proactive#17,002projector#17,004qualifier#17,007regretted#17,013

Similar misspelling depth

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

moderator13 variantsspraying13 variantsevergreen13 variantsdeviation13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list