surprise
/səˈpɹaɪz/
"surprise" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“surprise” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,841 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,841
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Something unexpected.
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 | surprise |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /səˈpɹaɪz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,841 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “surprise” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for surprise is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /səˈpɹaɪz/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,841 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for surprise, with forms such as "sruprise", "ssurprise", and "suprrise". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "surprised", "sunrise", "surmise", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English surprise, borrowed from Middle French surprise (“an overtake”), nominal use of the past participle of Old French sorprendre (“to overtake”), from sor- (“over”) + prendre (“to take”), from Latin super- + Latin prendere, contracted from pr… The correct English form is surprise, spelled S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Something unexpected.
- 2Something unexpected.
- 3The feeling that something unexpected has happened.
Etymology
From Middle English surprise, borrowed from Middle French surprise (“an overtake”), nominal use of the past participle of Old French sorprendre (“to overtake”), from sor- (“over”) + prendre (“to take”), from Latin super- + Latin prendere, contracted from prehendere (“to grasp, seize”). Doublet of suppli.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sruprise,ssurprise,suprrise,surpirse,surpprise,surpries,surprisse,surprrise,surprsie,surrpise,surrprise,usrprise
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of surprise - 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
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Using “surprise”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /səˈpɹaɪz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “surprised” - see the side-by-side comparison. surprise vs surprised
- 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.