backwardness
"backwardness" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“backwardness” is uncommon English (frequency #68,027 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,027
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state of being backward.
Corpus desk
Index EN-backwardness · backwardness · English
backwardness · rank #68,027 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,027
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 31,241
- PHOTO-FINISH Bache
Nearest frequency peer: Bache (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “backwardness”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- autoplay
autoplay
31,980 corpus weight
- AWACS
AWACS
31,979 corpus weight
- ayah
ayah
31,978 corpus weight
- Aylmer
Aylmer
31,977 corpus weight
- Bache
Bache
31,975 corpus weight
- backwardness
backwardness
31,974 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “backwardness” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | backwardness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #68,027 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “backwardness” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
backwardness is uncommon English at frequency #68,027 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for backwardness in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From backward + -ness. The correct English form is backwardness, spelled B-A-C-K-W-A-R-D-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The state of being backward.
- 2Reluctance.
Etymology
From backward + -ness.
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.
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 May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "backwardness", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.