subpoena
/sə(b)ˈpiː.nə/
"subpoena" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“subpoena” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,707. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,707
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A writ (“written order”) requiring someone to appear in court, or at a deposition or some other legal proceeding, as a witness to give testimony (a subpoena ad testificandum) or to produce evidence...
Corpus desk
Index EN-subpoena · subpoena · English
subpoena · rank #18,707 · 11 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,707
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sturgeon
Nearest frequency peer: sturgeon (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “subpoena”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Stratford
Stratford
81,297 corpus weight
- studs
studs
81,296 corpus weight
- sturgeon
sturgeon
81,295 corpus weight
- subpoena
subpoena
81,294 corpus weight
- swam
swam
81,293 corpus weight
- sweeps
sweeps
81,292 corpus weight
What this shows “subpoena” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | subpoena |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sə(b)ˈpiː.nə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #18,707 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “subpoena”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around subpoena (IPA /sə(b)ˈpiː.nə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,707 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for subpoena, with forms such as "sbupoena", "ssubpoena", and "subbpoena". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Medieval Latin subbor. Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ)bor. Medieval Latin poenabor. Middle English sub pena English sub… The correct English form is subpoena, spelled S-U-B-P-O-E-N-A.
Definition
- 1A writ (“written order”) requiring someone to appear in court, or at a deposition or some other legal proceeding, as a witness to give testimony (a subpoena ad testificandum) or to produce evidence (subpoena duces tecum), in default of which the person may be punished.
- 2A writ requiring a defendant to appear in court to answer a plaintiff's claim (a subpoena ad respondendum); in England and Wales, and Ireland, this writ was formerly issued by the Court of Chancery at the plaintiff's request to commence a suit, but the procedure was abolished in 1852.
- 3A motive or thing which can compel or demand something, or summon someone.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how subpoena appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Nothing vnder a Sub-pœna can dravv him to London, and vvhen hee is there, hee ſtickes faſt vppon euery obiect, caſts his eyes avvay vpon gazing, and becomes the prey of euery cut-purſe.
For the worthy magistrate, determined to omit no chance of doing Effie justice, and to leave her sister no apology for not giving the evidence which she was supposed to possess, had caused the ordinary citation, or sub-pœna, of the Scottish criminal court, to be served upon her by an officer during his conference with David.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Medieval Latin subbor. Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ)bor. Medieval Latin poenabor. Middle English sub pena English subpoena The noun sense is derived from Late Middle English sub pena (“writ requiring defendant to appear in the Court of Chancery to answer a plaintiff’s claim or to be punished; writ requiring witness to appear in court”), from Latin sub (“under”) + poena (“penalty, punishment”), from the opening words of the writ. The verb sense is derived from the noun one.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- sbupoena
- ssubpoena
- subbpoena
- subopena
- subpeona
- subpoean
- subpoenna
- subponea
- subppoena
- supboena
- usbpoena
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of subpoena - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "subpoena", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).