public school
"public-school" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“public school” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Certain private schools, particularly (initially) any grammar school operated apart from the personal lands of its students or (from the 19th century) the feepaying secondary schools which develope...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | public school |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “public school” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
public school is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for public school, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From public + school: originally, “public” in the sense of "communal" and contrasted with personal tutors; later, "state-run" and contrasted with private schools. The correct English form is public school, spelled P-U-B-L-I-C- -S-C-H-O-O-L.
Definition
- 1Certain private schools, particularly (initially) any grammar school operated apart from the personal lands of its students or (from the 19th century) the feepaying secondary schools which developed from or were modelled upon them; a British boarding school.
- 2A publicly funded and administered school; (UK, Ireland) such schools in the context of other countries.
- 3A college or university.
Etymology
From public + school: originally, “public” in the sense of "communal" and contrasted with personal tutors; later, "state-run" and contrasted with private schools.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “public school”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-U-B-L-I-C- -S-C-H-O-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.