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wallpaper

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

9 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "wallpaper", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "wallpaper" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "wallpaper" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

wallpaper is aEnglishnoun. It means: Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner walls of buildings.

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Key facts for wallpaper
PropertyValue
Headwordwallpaper
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#11,492
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of wallpaper in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for wallpaper is 9 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #11,492 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for wallpaper, with forms such as "awllpaper", "wallapper", and "wallpaepr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From wall + paper. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is wallpaper, spelled W-A-L-L-P-A-P-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner walls of buildings.
  2. 2
    A roll of such paper.
  3. 3
    A style or design of such material.
  4. 4
    Anything that serves as a background or part of the surroundings.
  5. 5
    An image or tiled pattern used as the background of a computer desktop.
  6. 6
    Generic footage of a building or location that may be used in the background of a related news report.
  7. 7
    Gaudy mass-produced stamps, typically of little or no value and only produced for sale to collectors.
  8. 8
    A radio operator's collection of awards and QSL cards.

Etymology

From wall + paper.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: awllpaper,wallapper,wallpaepr,wallpaperr,wallpapper,wallpapre,wallppaer,wallppaper,walpaper,walplaper,wlalpaper,wwallpaper

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for wallpaper

Misspelling Variants of "wallpaper"

awllpaper9wallapper9wallpaepr9wallpaperr10wallpapper10wallpapre9wallppaer9wallppaper10
Misspelling Variants of "wallpaper"

Frequency rank: #11,492 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wallpaper"?
"wallpaper" is spelled W-A-L-L-P-A-P-E-R.
What does "wallpaper" mean?
As a noun, "wallpaper" means: Decorative paper-like material used to cover the inner walls of buildings.
What are common misspellings of "wallpaper"?
Common misspellings include "awllpaper", "wallapper", "wallpaepr", "wallpaperr", "wallpapper". The correct spelling is "wallpaper".
What is the origin of the word "wallpaper"?
From wall + paper. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.