professor

/pɹəˈfɛs.ə/

//pɹəˈfɛs.ə// noun

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

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

The verdict

“professor” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,350. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,350
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.

Corpus desk

Index EN-professor · professor · English

professor · rank #1,350 · 12 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,350
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH planning

Nearest frequency peer: planning (-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 “professor”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “professor” 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).

professor vs profess
78% similar
professor vs processor
89% similar
professor vs professed
78% similar

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

Key facts for professor
PropertyValue
Headwordprofessor
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pɹəˈfɛs.ə/
Letters9
Frequency rank#1,350
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “professor”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).professorlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “planning” (#1,349), “programs” (#1,351), “overall” (#1,348). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “professor” is #1,350. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around professor (IPA /pɹəˈfɛs.ə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,350 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for professor, with forms such as "porfessor", "pprofessor", and "prfoessor". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "profess", "processor", "professed", 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 professor, professour, from Anglo-Norman proffessur and its etymon Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”), from the past participle stem of profiteor (“profess”). By surface analysis, profess + -or. The correct English form is professor, spelled P-R-O-F-E-S-S-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.
  2. 2
    A teacher or faculty member at a college or university regardless of formal rank.
  3. 3
    One who professes something, such as a religious doctrine.
  4. 4
    A practitioner, one who (publicly) practises or teaches an art or skill.
  5. 5
    A pianist in a saloon, brothel, etc.
  6. 6
    The puppeteer who performs a Punch and Judy show; a Punchman.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Professor is what you become after teaching for twenty to thirty years.
  2. […] I alvvayes thought / It vvas both impious and vnnaturall, / That ſuch immanity and bloody ſtrife / Should reigne among Profeſſors of one Faith.

Etymology

From Middle English professor, professour, from Anglo-Norman proffessur and its etymon Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”), from the past participle stem of profiteor (“profess”). By surface analysis, profess + -or.

This word in other languages

profesor(Español)professeur(Français)Professor(Deutsch)professor(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • porfessor
  • pprofessor
  • prfoessor
  • proefssor
  • profesor
  • profesosr
  • professorr
  • professro
  • proffessor
  • profsesor
  • prrofessor
  • rpofessor

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

porfessor2pprofessor1prfoessor2proefssor2profesor1profesosr2professorr1professro2
Edit distance from "professor"

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 "professor"?
"professor" is spelled P-R-O-F-E-S-S-O-R. The IPA pronunciation is /pɹəˈfɛs.ə/.
What does "professor" mean?
As a noun, "professor" means: The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.
What words are commonly confused with "professor"?
"professor" is commonly confused with "profess", "processor", "professed". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "professor"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "professor" is /pɹəˈfɛs.ə/. 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 "professor"?
From Middle English professor, professour, from Anglo-Norman proffessur and its etymon Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”), from the past participle stem of profiteor (“profess”). By surface analysis, profess + -or. 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 "professor", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

effective#1,363yesterday#1,325agreement#1,383resources#1,317

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

associated12 variantsspeaking12 variantsnecessary12 variantschallenge12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list