scandal
/ˈskændəl/
"scandal" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scandal” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,451. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,451
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
Corpus desk
Index EN-scandal · scandal · English
scandal · rank #5,451 · 11 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-COMMON #5,451
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH revolutionary
Nearest frequency peer: revolutionary (-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 “scandal”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- reminded
reminded
94,553 corpus weight
- resolve
resolve
94,552 corpus weight
- revolutiona…
revolutionary
94,551 corpus weight
- scandal
scandal
94,550 corpus weight
- shine
shine
94,549 corpus weight
- SI
SI
94,548 corpus weight
What this shows “scandal” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | scandal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskændəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #5,451 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “scandal”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around scandal (IPA /ˈskændəl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,451 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for scandal, with forms such as "csandal", "sacndal", and "scadnal". 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, "sandal", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French scandale (“indignation caused by misconduct or defamatory speech”), from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“that on which one trips, cause of offense”, literally “stumbling block”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “a trap laid for … The correct English form is scandal, spelled S-C-A-N-D-A-L.
Definition
- 1An incident or event that disgraces or damages the reputation of the persons or organization involved.
- 2Damage to one's reputation.
- 3Widespread moral outrage, indignation, as over an offence to decency.
- 4A word or deed, lacking in rectitude in some manner, which is an occasion of the spiritual ruin of another.
- 5Defamatory talk; gossip, slander.
- 6amateur or homemade pornography; (informal) commotion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how scandal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Their affair was reported as a scandal by most tabloids.
O, what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
Etymology
From Middle French scandale (“indignation caused by misconduct or defamatory speech”), from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“that on which one trips, cause of offense”, literally “stumbling block”), from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling”), from Proto-Indo-European *skand- (“to jump”). Cognate with Latin scandō (“to climb”). First attested from Old Northern French escandle, but the modern word is a reborrowing. Doublet, via Old French esclandre, of slander. Sense evolution from "cause of stumbling, that which causes one to sin, stumbling block" to "discredit to reputation, that which brings shame, thing of disgrace" is possibly due to early influence from other similar sounding words for infamy and disgrace (compare Old English scand (“ignominity, scandal, disgraceful thing”), Old High German scanda (“ignominy, disgrace”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰 (skanda, “shame, disgrace”)). See shand, shend, shonda.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- csandal
- sacndal
- scadnal
- scanadl
- scandall
- scanddal
- scandla
- scanndal
- sccandal
- scnadal
- sscandal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scandal - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "scandal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).