Sela
"sela" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Sela” is uncommon English (frequency #74,491 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,491
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The capital of Edom, near Mount Hor; also known as Joktheel and Petra.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Sela |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #74,491 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Sela” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Sela is uncommon English at frequency #74,491 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Sela doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew סֶּלַע (Sela‛, “rock”); compare Arabic السَّلَع (as-salaʕ). The correct English form is Sela, spelled S-E-L-A.
Definition
- 1The capital of Edom, near Mount Hor; also known as Joktheel and Petra.
- 2A village in modern-day Jordan near the location of historical Sela.
Etymology
Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew סֶּלַע (Sela‛, “rock”); compare Arabic السَّلَع (as-salaʕ).
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 "Sela"?
What does "Sela" mean?
What is the origin of the word "Sela"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Sela”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-L-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.