vicar
/ˈvɪkɚ/
"vicar" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vicar” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,990 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,990
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.
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 | vicar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈvɪkɚ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #17,990 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vicar” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for vicar is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvɪkɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,990 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 vicar, with forms such as "ivcar", "vciar", and "viacr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vice", "visa", "vita", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English vicar, viker, vikyr, vicaire, vicare, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman vikare, vicare, vikaire, vikere and Old French vicaire (“deputy, second in command”), from Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substitute”). The correct English form is vicar, spelled V-I-C-A-R.
Definition
- 1In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.
- 2In the Roman Catholic and some other churches, a cleric acting as local representative of a higher ranking member of the clergy.
- 3A person acting on behalf of, or representing, another person.
Etymology
From Middle English vicar, viker, vikyr, vicaire, vicare, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman vikare, vicare, vikaire, vikere and Old French vicaire (“deputy, second in command”), from Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substitute”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ivcar,vciar,viacr,vicarr,viccar,vicra,vvicar
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vicar - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “vicar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-I-C-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvɪkɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vice” - see the side-by-side comparison. vicar vs vice
- 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.