sphere
/sfɪə(ɹ)/
"sphere" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sphere” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,208. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,208
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surface in three dimensions consisting of all points equidistant from a center. .
Corpus desk
Index EN-sphere · sphere · English
sphere · rank #8,208 · 9 variants · 11 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,208
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Sophie
Nearest frequency peer: Sophie (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “sphere”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- smarter
smarter
91,796 corpus weight
- smiles
smiles
91,795 corpus weight
- Sophie
Sophie
91,794 corpus weight
- sphere
sphere
91,793 corpus weight
- stamps
stamps
91,791 corpus weight
- stare
stare
91,790 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sphere” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | sphere |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sfɪə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #8,208 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sphere” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around sphere (IPA /sfɪə(ɹ)/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,208 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for sphere, with forms such as "pshere", "shpere", and "spehre". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "spree", "spire", "spore", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English spere, from Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), of unknown origin. Not related to superficially similar Persian سپهر (sep… The correct English form is sphere, spelled S-P-H-E-R-E.
Definition
- 1A surface in three dimensions consisting of all points equidistant from a center. .
- 2An object which appears to be bounded by a sphere; a round object, a ball.
- 3The celestial sphere: the edge of the heavens, imagined as a hollow globe within which celestial bodies appear to be embedded.
- 4Any of the concentric hollow transparent globes formerly believed to rotate around the Earth, and which carried the heavenly bodies; there were originally believed to be eight, and later nine and ten; friction between them was thought to cause a harmonious sound (the music of the spheres).
- 5An area of activity for a planet; or by extension, an area of influence for a god, hero etc.
- 6The region in which something or someone is active; one's province, domain.
- 7The natural, normal, or proper place (of something).
- 8The set of all points in three-dimensional Euclidean space (or n-dimensional space, in topology) that are a fixed distance from a fixed point .
- 9The domain of reference of a proposition, subject, or predicate, or the totality of the particular subjects to which it applies.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sphere appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Of celestial bodies, first the sun, / A mighty sphere, he framed.
So your orientation changes a little bit but it sinks in that the world is a sphere, and you're going around it, sometimes under it, sideways, or over it.
Etymology
From Middle English spere, from Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, earlier Latin sphaera (“ball, globe, celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), of unknown origin. Not related to superficially similar Persian سپهر (sepehr, “sky”) .
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- pshere
- shpere
- spehre
- spheer
- spherre
- sphhere
- sphree
- spphere
- ssphere
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sphere - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "sphere"?
What does "sphere" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sphere"?
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What is the origin of the word "sphere"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sphere", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "sphere". Here's where to go from here.
- "sphere" maps to 11 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "spree". View pair
- 9 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #8,208 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.