punishable
/ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/
"punishable" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“punishable” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,673 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #19,673
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Subject to punishment; appropriate for punishment.
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 | punishable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #19,673 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “punishable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for punishable is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,673 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Subject to punishment; appropriate for punishment.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for punishable, with forms such as "pnuishable", "ppunishable", and "puinshable". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "perishable", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From punish + -able. The correct English form is punishable, spelled P-U-N-I-S-H-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Subject to punishment; appropriate for punishment.
Etymology
From punish + -able.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pnuishable,ppunishable,puinshable,punihsable,punisahble,punishabble,punishabel,punishablle,punishalbe,punishbale,punishhable,punishible,punisshable,punnishable,punsihable,upnishable
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of punishable - 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.
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 "punishable"?
What does "punishable" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "punishable"?
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Using “punishable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-U-N-I-S-H-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “perishable” - see the side-by-side comparison. punishable vs perishable
- 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.