imbécil
[ĩmˈbesil]
The verdict
“imbécil” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #6,911 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #6,911
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 7
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Que tiene poca fuerza, en particular física.
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 | imbécil |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ĩmˈbesil] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #6,911 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “imbécil” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for imbécil is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ĩmˈbesil]. Corpus data places it at rank #6,911 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for imbécil, with forms such as "ibmécil", "imbbécil", and "imbcéil". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "imbéciles", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is imbécil, spelled I-M-B-É-C-I-L.
Definition
- 1Que tiene poca fuerza, en particular física.
- 2Por extensión, que tiene poca inteligencia o entendimiento
- 3Por extensión, una persona desagradable e irritante.
- 4En particular, que padece una deficiencia cognitiva que le impide alfabetizarse, aunque sea capaz de utilizar el lenguaje hablado.
- 5Dicho de una cosa, propia de alguien imbécil_(2–3).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ibmécil,imbbécil,imbcéil,imbéccil,imbécill,imbécli,imbéicl,imbésil,immbécil,imvécil,imébcil,mibécil
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of imbécil - 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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "imbécil"?
What does "imbécil" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "imbécil"?
How do you pronounce "imbécil"?
What language does "imbécil" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “imbécil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is I-M-B-É-C-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ĩmˈbesil] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “imbéciles” - see the side-by-side comparison. imbécil vs imbéciles
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish 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.