sculpture
/ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/
"sculpture" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sculpture” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,087 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,087
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
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 | sculpture |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #8,087 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sculpture” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sculpture is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,087 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for sculpture, with forms such as "csulpture", "scculpture", and "sclupture". 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, "sculptor", "Scripture", "sculptural", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sculpture, from Old French sculpture, from Latin sculptūra (“sculpture”), from sculpō (“to cut out, to carve in stone”). The correct English form is sculpture, spelled S-C-U-L-P-T-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
- 2More generally (since modernism), a three-dimensional work of art of any material or of mixed materials, whether sculpted, assembled, found, constructed or created using multiple techniques.
- 3Works of art created by sculpting, as a group.
- 4The three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface of a shell.
- 5A printed picture, such as an engraving.
Etymology
From Middle English sculpture, from Old French sculpture, from Latin sculptūra (“sculpture”), from sculpō (“to cut out, to carve in stone”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: csulpture,scculpture,sclupture,scullpture,sculppture,sculptrue,sculptture,sculptuer,sculpturre,sculputre,scultpure,scuplture,ssculpture,suclpture
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sculpture - 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
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Using “sculpture”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-C-U-L-P-T-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈskʌlpt͡ʃɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sculptor” - see the side-by-side comparison. sculpture vs sculptor
- 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.