scribe
/skɹaɪb/
"scribe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scribe” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,239 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,239
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
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 | scribe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skɹaɪb/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #26,239 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scribe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for scribe is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skɹaɪb/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,239 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for scribe, with forms such as "csribe", "sccribe", and "scirbe". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "scrub", "serie", "scrip", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English scribe, from Old French scribe (“scribe”), from Late Latin usage of scrība (“secretary”) (used in the Vulgate Bible translation to render Ancient Greek γραμματεύς (grammateús, “scribe, secretary”), which had been used in its turn to rend… The correct English form is scribe, spelled S-C-R-I-B-E.
Definition
- 1Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
- 2Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
- 3A journalist.
- 4A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.
- 5A very sharp, steel drawing implement used in engraving and etching, a scriber.
Etymology
From Middle English scribe, from Old French scribe (“scribe”), from Late Latin usage of scrība (“secretary”) (used in the Vulgate Bible translation to render Ancient Greek γραμματεύς (grammateús, “scribe, secretary”), which had been used in its turn to render the Hebrew סופר (“writer, scholar”)) from scrībere (“to write, draw, draw up, draft (a paper), enlist, enroll, levy; orig. to scratch”), probably akin to scrobs (“a ditch, trench, grave”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csribe,sccribe,scirbe,scrbie,scribbe,scrieb,scrribe,srcibe,sscribe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of scribe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "scribe"?
What does "scribe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "scribe"?
How do you pronounce "scribe"?
What is the origin of the word "scribe"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “scribe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-R-I-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skɹaɪb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “scrub” - see the side-by-side comparison. scribe vs scrub
- 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.