upsilon
/ˈ(j)uːpsɪˌlɒn/
"upsilon" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“upsilon” is uncommon English (frequency #90,030 among 23,789 “U” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,030
- frequency rank, English
- 23,789
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The twentieth letter of Classical and Modern Greek; the twenty-second letter of Old and Ancient Greek.
Corpus desk
Index EN-upsilon · upsilon · English
upsilon · rank #90,030 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,030
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 23,789
- PHOTO-FINISH untying
Nearest frequency peer: untying (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “upsilon”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- unprompted
unprompted
9,975 corpus weight
- unscramble
unscramble
9,973 corpus weight
- untying
untying
9,972 corpus weight
- upsilon
upsilon
9,971 corpus weight
- Utena
Utena
9,969 corpus weight
- Vacaville
Vacaville
9,967 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “upsilon” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | upsilon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈ(j)uːpsɪˌlɒn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #90,030 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “upsilon” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
upsilon is uncommon English at frequency #90,030 among 23,789 “U” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈ(j)uːpsɪˌlɒn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for upsilon in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek ὖ ψιλόν (û psilón, “simple Υ”). The correct English form is upsilon, spelled U-P-S-I-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1The twentieth letter of Classical and Modern Greek; the twenty-second letter of Old and Ancient Greek.
- 2An upsilon meson, or bottomonium.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὖ ψιλόν (û psilón, “simple Υ”).
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "upsilon", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.