Tulsa
/ˈtʌlsə/
"tulsa" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Tulsa” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,537 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #15,537
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large city, the county seat of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States; the second largest city in the state.
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 | Tulsa |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈtʌlsə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #15,537 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Tulsa” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Tulsa is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtʌlsə/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,537 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A large city, the county seat of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States; the second largest city in the state.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Tulsa, with forms such as "tlusa", "ttulsa", and "tulas". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "tuna", "tusk", "tulsi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Creek Tallasi (literally “old town”). Compare Tallahassee, from the same or a similar term. The correct English form is Tulsa, spelled T-U-L-S-A.
Definition
- 1A large city, the county seat of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States; the second largest city in the state.
Etymology
From Creek Tallasi (literally “old town”). Compare Tallahassee, from the same or a similar term.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: tlusa,ttulsa,tulas,tullsa,tulssa,tusla,utlsa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Tulsa - 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
How do you spell "Tulsa"?
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Using “Tulsa”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-U-L-S-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtʌlsə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tuna” - see the side-by-side comparison. Tulsa vs tuna
- 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.