astigmatism
/əˈstɪɡmətɪzm̩/
"astigmatism" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“astigmatism” is uncommon English (frequency #55,927 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,927
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A defect of a lens such that light rays coming from a point do not meet at a focal point so that the image is blurred.
Corpus desk
Index EN-astigmatism · astigmatism · English
astigmatism · rank #55,927 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,927
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH Asterix
Nearest frequency peer: Asterix (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “astigmatism”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Asis
Asis
44,076 corpus weight
- Asterix
Asterix
44,075 corpus weight
- astigmatism
astigmatism
44,074 corpus weight
- audiophile
audiophile
44,073 corpus weight
- Audley
Audley
44,072 corpus weight
- avast
avast
44,071 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “astigmatism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | astigmatism |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈstɪɡmətɪzm̩/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #55,927 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “astigmatism” in English
Rare enough to double-check
astigmatism is uncommon English at frequency #55,927 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈstɪɡmətɪzm̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for astigmatism, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a- (negative prefix) + stem of Ancient Greek στίγμα (stígma, “mark, point”) + -ism. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1846. The correct English form is astigmatism, spelled A-S-T-I-G-M-A-T-I-S-M.
Definition
- 1A defect of a lens such that light rays coming from a point do not meet at a focal point so that the image is blurred.
- 2A disorder of the vision, usually due to a misshapen cornea, such that light does not focus correctly on the retina causing a blurred image.
Etymology
From a- (negative prefix) + stem of Ancient Greek στίγμα (stígma, “mark, point”) + -ism. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1846.
Synonyms
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); 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "astigmatism", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).