successor
/səkˈsɛsə/
"successor" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“successor” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,295 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,295
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person or thing that immediately follows another in holding an office or title.
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 | successor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /səkˈsɛsə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #7,295 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “successor” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for successor is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səkˈsɛsə/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,295 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for successor, with forms such as "scucessor", "ssuccessor", and "succesor". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "success", "succession", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman successour, from Latin successor. The correct English form is successor, spelled S-U-C-C-E-S-S-O-R.
Definition
- 1A person or thing that immediately follows another in holding an office or title.
- 2The next heir in order or succession.
- 3A person who inherits a title or office.
- 4The integer, ordinal number or cardinal number immediately following another.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman successour, from Latin successor.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: scucessor,ssuccessor,succesor,succesosr,successorr,successro,succsesor,sucecssor,sucessor,usccessor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of successor - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "successor"?
What does "successor" mean?
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Using “successor”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-C-C-E-S-S-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səkˈsɛsə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “success” - see the side-by-side comparison. successor vs success
- 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.