Sela
"sela" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Sela” is uncommon English (frequency #74,491 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,491
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The capital of Edom, near Mount Hor; also known as Joktheel and Petra.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sela · Sela · English
Sela · rank #74,491 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,491
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH seki
Nearest frequency peer: seki (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “Sela”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- scrapper
scrapper
25,517 corpus weight
- seely
seely
25,512 corpus weight
- seki
seki
25,511 corpus weight
- Sela
Sela
25,510 corpus weight
- sensu
sensu
25,508 corpus weight
- Sharples
Sharples
25,503 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Sela” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “Sela” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Sela is uncommon English at frequency #74,491 among 6,566 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Sela appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Selah, the capital of Idumea, built on an elevated plain, was situated in a deep valley, the entrance to which is by a lengthened defile, in some places not more than eight feet wide, which, in some parts, rising from 400 to 700 feet, nearly meet over head, about ninety miles to the south-east of Jerusalem. Mount Hor, celebrated in Scripture, overlooks th…
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?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Sela", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).