antibacterial

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"antibacterial" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“antibacterial” has 19 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #33,125. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,125
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
19
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Killing or inhibiting bacteria.

Corpus desk

Index EN-antibacterial · antibacterial · English

antibacterial · rank #33,125 · 19 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #33,125
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 19 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Antoni

Nearest frequency peer: Antoni (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “antibacterial”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “antibacterial” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for antibacterial
PropertyValue
Headwordantibacterial
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters13
Frequency rank#33,125
Misspellings tracked19
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “antibacterial”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).antibacteriallands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Antoni” (#33,126), “annotation” (#33,123), “argumentative” (#33,128). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “antibacterial” is #33,125. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 19 spelling variants around antibacterial, anadjective. Corpus frequency is #33,125 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 19 likely wrong-spelling variants for antibacterial, with forms such as "anitbacterial", "anntibacterial", and "antbiacterial". 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 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 anti- + bacterial. The correct English form is antibacterial, spelled A-N-T-I-B-A-C-T-E-R-I-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Killing or inhibiting bacteria.
  2. 2
    Opposing the theory that diseases are caused by bacteria.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how antibacterial appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This drug has an antibacterial effect.
  2. Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

Etymology

From anti- + bacterial.

This word in other languages

antibacteriano(Español)antibactérien(Français)antibakteriell(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • anitbacterial
  • anntibacterial
  • antbiacterial
  • antiabcterial
  • antibaccterial
  • antibacetrial
  • antibacteiral
  • antibacterail
  • antibacteriall
  • antibacterila
  • antibacterrial
  • antibactreial
  • antibactterial
  • antibatcerial
  • antibbacterial
  • antibcaterial
  • anttibacterial
  • atnibacterial
  • natibacterial

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of antibacterial - 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.

anitbacterial2anntibacterial1antbiacterial2antiabcterial2antibaccterial1antibacetrial2antibacteiral2antibacterail2
Edit distance from "antibacterial"

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 "antibacterial"?
"antibacterial" is spelled A-N-T-I-B-A-C-T-E-R-I-A-L.
What does "antibacterial" mean?
As an adjective, "antibacterial" means: Killing or inhibiting bacteria.
What are common misspellings of "antibacterial"?
Common misspellings include "anitbacterial", "anntibacterial", "antbiacterial", "antiabcterial", "antibaccterial". The correct spelling is "antibacterial".
What is the origin of the word "antibacterial"?
From anti- + bacterial. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "antibacterial", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

argumentative#33,128baccalaureate#33,138contemplative#33,188superficially#33,042

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (19 here; floor ≥5).

asymptomatic19 variantscompensatory19 variantsstratosphere19 variantsfraudulently19 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list