upper class
/ˌʌpəˈklɑːs/
"upper-class" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“upper class” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Those people at the top of a social hierarchy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | upper class |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌʌpəˈklɑːs/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “upper class” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for upper class is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌʌpəˈklɑːs/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
upper class has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is upper class, spelled U-P-P-E-R- -C-L-A-S-S.
Definition
- 1Those people at the top of a social hierarchy.
- 2The aristocracy.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “upper class”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is U-P-P-E-R- -C-L-A-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌʌpəˈklɑːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.