visa
/ˈviːzə/
"visa" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“visa” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,849 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,849
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A permit to enter and leave a country, normally issued by the authorities of the country to be visited.
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 | visa |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈviːzə/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,849 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “visa” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for visa is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈviːzə/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,849 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A permit to enter and leave a country, normally issued by the authorities of the country to be visited.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for visa, with forms such as "ivsa", "vias", and "vissa". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Vos", "Viv", "VPS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From 1831, "official signature or endorsement on a passport," from French visa, from Latin charta vīsa (“paper that has been seen”) from feminine perfect passive of Latin vidēre (“to see”). Compare vision, video, vista. The correct English form is visa, spelled V-I-S-A.
Definition
- 1A permit to enter and leave a country, normally issued by the authorities of the country to be visited.
Etymology
From 1831, "official signature or endorsement on a passport," from French visa, from Latin charta vīsa (“paper that has been seen”) from feminine perfect passive of Latin vidēre (“to see”). Compare vision, video, vista.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ivsa,vias,vissa,vsia,vvisa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of visa - 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 "visa"?
What does "visa" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "visa"?
How do you pronounce "visa"?
What is the origin of the word "visa"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “visa”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-I-S-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈviːzə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Vos” - see the side-by-side comparison. visa vs Vos
- 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.