alternative medicine
"alternative-medicine" is a 19-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alternative medicine” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various nonscientific or pseudoscientific medical methods and practices used either in place of or in addition to conventional (scientific) medicine.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | alternative medicine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alternative medicine” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
alternative medicine is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of various nonscientific or pseudoscientific medical methods and practices used either in place of or in addition to conventional (scientific) medicine.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for alternative medicine, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is alternative medicine, spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-V-E- -M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Any of various nonscientific or pseudoscientific medical methods and practices used either in place of or in addition to conventional (scientific) medicine.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “alternative medicine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-T-E-R-N-A-T-I-V-E- -M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.