prince

/pɹɪns/

//pɹɪns// noun

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

"prince" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“prince” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,960. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,960
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.

Corpus desk

Index EN-prince · prince · English

prince · rank #1,960 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,960
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH plenty

Nearest frequency peer: plenty (-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 “prince”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “prince” 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).

prince vs prize
67% similar
prince vs print
67% similar
prince vs prone
67% similar

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

Key facts for prince
PropertyValue
Headwordprince
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pɹɪns/
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,960
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “prince”

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).princelands here:

#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 “plenty” (#1,959), “proper” (#1,961), “plane” (#1,958). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “prince” is #1,960. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around prince (IPA /pɹɪns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,960 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for prince, with forms such as "pirnce", "pprince", and "pricne". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "prize", "print", "prone", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe. Displaced native Middle English athe… The correct English form is prince, spelled P-R-I-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
  2. 2
    A female monarch.
  3. 3
    Someone who is preeminent in their field; a great person.
  4. 4
    The (male) ruler or head of a principality.
  5. 5
    A male member of a royal family other than the ruler; especially (in the United Kingdom) the son or grandson of the monarch.
  6. 6
    A non-royal high title of nobility, especially in France and the Holy Roman Empire.
  7. 7
    A type of court card used in tarot cards, the equivalent of the jack.
  8. 8
    The mushroom Agaricus augustus.
  9. 9
    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Rohana.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Truely, to see our Princes all alone, sitting at their meat, beleagred round with so many talkers, whisperers, and gazing beholders, unknowne what they are or whence they come, I have often rather pittied than envied them.
  2. By his last years Erasmus realized that princes like Henry VIII and François I had deceived him in their elaborate negotiations for universal peace, but his belief in the potential of princely power for good remained undimmed.

Etymology

From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe. Displaced native Middle English atheling, from Old English æþeling; Middle English kinebarn, from Old English cynebearn; Middle English alder, from Old English ealdor; and Middle English drighten, from Old English dryhten.

This word in other languages

príncipe(Español)prince(Français)Fürst(Deutsch)príncipe(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pirnce
  • pprince
  • pricne
  • princce
  • prinec
  • prinnce
  • prnice
  • prrince
  • rpince

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prince - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

pirnce2pprince1pricne2princce1prinec2prinnce1prnice2prrince1
Edit distance from "prince"

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 "prince"?
"prince" is spelled P-R-I-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /pɹɪns/.
What does "prince" mean?
As a noun, "prince" means: A (male) ruler, a sovereign; a king, monarch.
What words are commonly confused with "prince"?
"prince" is commonly confused with "prize", "print", "prone". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prince"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prince" is /pɹɪns/. 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 "prince"?
From Middle English prince, from Anglo-Norman prince, from Latin prīnceps (“first head”), from prīmus (“first”) + capiō (“seize, take”). Cognate with Old English fruma (“prince, ruler”). Doublet of princeps and principe. Displaced native Middle En... 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 "prince", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

plenty#1,959proper#1,961pieces#1,957picked#1,956

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

session9 variantsmatters9 variantstoward9 variantsinitial9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list