symbol
/ˈsɪmbəl/
"symbol" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“symbol” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,274 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,274
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
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 | symbol |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɪmbəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,274 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “symbol” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for symbol is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɪmbəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,274 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 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 symbol, with forms such as "smybol", "ssymbol", and "sybmol". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "symbols", "symbolic", "Sybil", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, ou… The correct English form is symbol, spelled S-Y-M-B-O-L.
Definition
- 1A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
- 2A thing considered the embodiment or cardinal exemplar of a concept, theme, or other thing.
- 3A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.
- 4A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.
- 5The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
- 6That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
- 7Share; allotment.
- 8An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.
- 9A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.
Etymology
From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, put”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: smybol,ssymbol,sybmol,symbbol,symblo,symboll,symmbol,symobl,syymbol,ysmbol
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of symbol - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “symbol”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-Y-M-B-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɪmbəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “symbols” - see the side-by-side comparison. symbol vs symbols
- 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.