prophecy
/ˈpɹɒfɪsi/
"prophecy" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prophecy” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,093 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,093
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prophecy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɹɒfɪsi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,093 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “prophecy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for prophecy is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɹɒfɪsi/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,093 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for prophecy, with forms such as "porphecy", "pprophecy", and "prohpecy". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "prophet", "prophets", "prophesy", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English prophecie, from Old French prophetie, from Latin prophētīa, from Ancient Greek προφητεία (prophēteía, “prophecy”), from προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “speaker of a god”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + φημί (phēmí, “I tell”). Displaced native Old Eng… The correct English form is prophecy, spelled P-R-O-P-H-E-C-Y.
Definition
- 1A prediction, especially one made by a prophet or under divine inspiration.
- 2The public interpretation of Scripture.
Etymology
From Middle English prophecie, from Old French prophetie, from Latin prophētīa, from Ancient Greek προφητεία (prophēteía, “prophecy”), from προφήτης (prophḗtēs, “speaker of a god”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + φημί (phēmí, “I tell”). Displaced native Old English wītgung. Doublet of prophesy.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: porphecy,pprophecy,prohpecy,propehcy,prophcey,propheccy,prophecyy,propheyc,prophhecy,propphecy,prpohecy,prrophecy,rpophecy
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prophecy - 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.
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 "prophecy"?
What does "prophecy" mean?
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Using “prophecy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-O-P-H-E-C-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɹɒfɪsi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “prophet” - see the side-by-side comparison. prophecy vs prophet
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.