ulcer
/ˈʌlsə/
"ulcer" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ulcer” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,066 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,066
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An open sore of the skin, eyes or mucous membrane, often caused by an initial abrasion and generally maintained by an inflammation and/or an infection.
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 | ulcer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʌlsə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #28,066 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ulcer” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ulcer is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʌlsə/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,066 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ulcer, with forms such as "lucer", "ucler", and "ulccer". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "user", "under", "upper", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French ulcere, from Latin ulcus. Doublet of ulcus. The correct English form is ulcer, spelled U-L-C-E-R.
Definition
- 1An open sore of the skin, eyes or mucous membrane, often caused by an initial abrasion and generally maintained by an inflammation and/or an infection.
- 2Peptic ulcer.
- 3Anything that festers and corrupts like an open sore; a vice in character.
Etymology
From Old French ulcere, from Latin ulcus. Doublet of ulcus.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lucer,ucler,ulccer,ulcerr,ulcre,ulecr,ullcer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ulcer - 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 “ulcer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is U-L-C-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈʌlsə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “user” - see the side-by-side comparison. ulcer vs user
- 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.