illegal
/ɪˈliː.ɡəl/
The verdict
“illegal” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #85,867 among 3,428 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #85,867
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 3,428
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Ilegal, ilícito, contrario a la ley.
Corpus desk
Index ES-illegal · illegal · Spanish
illegal · rank #85,867 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #85,867
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,428
- PHOTO-FINISH ignoto
Nearest frequency peer: ignoto (-4 rank slots)
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 “illegal”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- hundred
hundred
14,142 corpus weight
- ignoto
ignoto
14,138 corpus weight
- illegal
illegal
14,134 corpus weight
- impugnadas
impugnadas
14,130 corpus weight
- inalterables
inalterables
14,129 corpus weight
- incliné
incliné
14,127 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “illegal” sits against the nearest ranked Spanish headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | illegal |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɪˈliː.ɡəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #85,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “illegal” sits in Spanish frequency
Rare enough to double-check
illegal is uncommon Spanish at frequency #85,867 among 3,428 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ɪˈliː.ɡəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ilegal, ilícito, contrario a la ley.".
illegal doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is illegal, spelled I-L-L-E-G-A-L.
Definition
- 1Ilegal, ilícito, contrario a la ley.
Synonyms
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 Spanish 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 September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar Spanish words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "illegal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "illegal". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #85,867 among Spanish headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more Spanish words in the "I" letter cohort. I–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.