talisman
/ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/
"talisman" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“talisman” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,993 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,993
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or power(s).
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 | talisman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #26,993 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “talisman” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for talisman is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,993 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or power(s).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for talisman, with forms such as "atlisman", "tailsman", and "talimsan". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "Tasman", "Taliban", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French talisman, partly from Arabic طِلَّسْم (ṭillasm, “payment”), from Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment”); and partly directly from Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “talisman, religious rite, completion”), from τελέω (teléō, “to perform relig… The correct English form is talisman, spelled T-A-L-I-S-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A magical object providing protection against ill will, or the supernatural, or conferring the wearer with a boon such as good luck, good health, or power(s).
Etymology
From French talisman, partly from Arabic طِلَّسْم (ṭillasm, “payment”), from Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment”); and partly directly from Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “talisman, religious rite, completion”), from τελέω (teléō, “to perform religious rites, to complete”), from τέλος (télos, “end, fulfillment, accomplishment, consummation, completion”). Doublet of telesm.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atlisman,tailsman,talimsan,talisamn,talismann,talismman,talismna,talissman,tallisman,talsiman,tlaisman,ttalisman
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of talisman - 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 “talisman”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-L-I-S-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtæl.ɪsˌmæn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Tasman” - see the side-by-side comparison. talisman vs Tasman
- 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.